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While some observers of the nanoscale have lamented the impending final chapter of scanning electron microscopy's scalability, FEI has been busy pushing the workhorse analytical tool's capabilities. The roll-out of its Magellan family of "extra-high-resolution" (XHR) SEMs marks a huge milestone for the Hillsboro, OR-based company, a product launch of such magnitude that the firm's lawyers insisted I sign a multipage nondisclosure agreement last week before they'd allow me to conduct any prelaunch interviews.

Circumnavigational exploration, not nanoscale investigation,
was this Magellan's focus. (Image courtesy: Wikipedia) 

When I read the bloated NDA and realized that it was the sort of legalistic overkill that some in the legal profession don't think twice about but can't understand why many of us mere mortals are wont to sign, I refused to put my John Hancock on it.

When you've honored every press embargo request for 20 years (not a formal NDA in the bunch) and kept just about all those hundreds of off-the-record comments, well, off the freakin' record (OK, I've made a few accidental slips), this kind of ultraconservative lawyering in the name of IP protection and confidentiality rankles as an insult to my professional integrity. Yet apparently other editor-bloggers did sign the form--thanks for caving, guys!

Despite my unfortunate encounter with the FEI legal beagles, I have to say that the Magellan SEMs represent a true breakthrough in the e-beam analytical arena. The tools, one for materials scientists (400) and the other for semiconductor labs (400L), can image subnanometer images quickly and at very low power (<1 kV, but also work up to 30 kV), even in a hitherto-improbable top-down mode, with extremely crisp resolution.

Whether it's for sub-32-nm chip development work or nanotube/nanowire/nanoparticle/nanowhatsits investigatory efforts and the like, the quality of the structural detail, material contrast, and surface sensitivity have improved by leaps and bounds. Other bells and whistles--the 100-mm high-precision, tilting/rotating stage and large, sample-friendly chamber--represent marked upgrades from the current commercial standard for SEMs.

The company says it's already taking orders for the nansocale analysis-extension agents and expects to ship the first units by September. Even in the current challenging semiconductor equipment market, I expect FEI to sell a fair-sized fleet of Magellans: any chip R&D or failure analysis lab would welcome such a powerful addition to their toolbox.

Despite my refusal to play NDA ball, the FEI folks supplied the following exclusive image, which reveals an excellent example of the new XHR SEMs' capabilities. The deprocessed logic device, from the labs/fabs of STMicroelectonics in Malta and Grenoble, is shown at 300,000X magnification from a top-down perspective; note the stellar resolution, rich detail, and surface sensitivity achieved at the previously unheard-of beam current of just 1 kV.