Vironova awarded a key US patent for further automation of transmission electron microscopy

Vironova has recently been granted a US patent with the title " A method for automatic correction of astigmatism.” The method removes a tedious manual step that requires considerable operator skill. It can be applied to any electron microscope, allowing for automated correction of the electron beam and ultimately enabling fully automated image acquisition.

High quality image acquisition in electron microscopes requires careful alignment and focusing of the electron beam. A misaligned electron beam results in artefacts, a blurred image and loss of fine-detail information. Physical features and characteristics of the electron microscope can be used to coarsely perform the beam alignment. The fine-tuning is however conventionally left to manual adjustment by the user since wear of system parts, temperature etc. also affect the alignment and must be performed regularly.

Manual alignment of a transmission electron microscope (TEM) is a rather tedious, complicated and time-consuming process that requires very good operational skills.

An important feature of the present invention is that the method uses only image data to automatically correct for lens astigmatism during the alignment process, without relying on physical features and characteristics of the microscope itself. This means that the method can not only be used to perform the fine tuning but it can also be applied to any electron microscope, with no information required on internal physical features.

“This patent is a manifestation of our strategy to strengthen our core technology through a multi-disciplinary innovation process. Our constant goal is to increase user friendliness and improve the accessibility of the unique information inherent in electron microscopy.”  Mohammed Homman, CEO, Vironova AB.

“With this method we take an important step towards automatic, high quality image acquisition and ultimately fully automated and objective nano-particle characterization in life science and material science applications.”  Ida-Maria Sintorn, Chief Technology Officer Vironova AB.

For more information contact:

Ida-Maria Sintorn, Chief Technology Officer Vironova AB +46 (0)76 1090195, ida.sintorn@vironova.com