Thermo Scientific Helios 5 DualBeam microscope

Thermo Fisher Scientific has unveiled a focused ion beam scanning electron microscope (FIB-SEM) for materials science researchers and engineers, the Thermo Scientific Helios 5 DualBeam microscope. The microscope allows users of all experience levels to generate high-quality results and is capable of unattended, fully automated, in situ preparation of location-specific ultrathin samples for a wide range of materials.

By creating high-quality samples for atomic-scale analysis in a transmission electron microscope, the product can assist materials science researchers working with multiscale, multimodal correlative workflows for the characterisation of complex materials and provide 3D visualisation at the nanometre scale. For researchers developing materials used in additive manufacturing, it can be used to build complex parts for aircraft engines.

The system’s operation is optimal for both manual and automated workflows, offering accessibility for users of all experience levels. Operator training may be reduced from months to days and is designed to enable all operators to achieve consistent, repeatable results on a wide variety of applications. Automation capabilities, robustness and stability enhancements are said to increase the sample preparation throughput compared to prior models by allowing unattended and even overnight operation.

With conventional microscopes, each time an operator needs to acquire an image, the microscope has to be carefully tuned by iterative adjustments to components in the microscope. A simple hand gesture across the Helios 5 screen will activate FLASH, which automatically adjusts the parameters needed to acquire a new image. This is said to improve throughput and data quality, simplifying the acquisition of high-quality, high-resolution images.