Q1 2022 Newsletter www.protochips.com
PROTOCHIPS CONNECTIONS
IT’S ALL ABOUT CONNECTIONS
both for our TEM holders and for MEMS development.
efficient way to analyze and share your data during and
With the launch of our AXON product line in March
after the session. And now, with the release of AXON
2020, we made the next big step to really empower
Dose, you are finally connected to the impact of the
our customers to take their research to another level.
electron beam on your sample.
Welcome to the first issue of our new quarterly newsletter, Protochips Connections...
AXON Synchronicity created connections to your sample,
Our goal with this newsletter is to create new connections
providing a completely new level of stability in the TEM
with our customers, to share both developments on our
allowing higher quality data collection. At the same time,
side, and the exciting research being done on your side.
Protochips is known to the electron microscopy
connections to the holder, TEM column and the imaging
From product launches and technique development, to
system enabled unprecedented levels of metadata collection
exciting new publications and talks, the best science will
and, paired with AXON Studio, the most powerful and
come from connected labs!
as COVID releases its grip, I also look forward to the
a critical foundation to create. Turning all of this
question “So … what does Protochips do?” Electron
information into metadata that’s easily searchable and
microscopy is entering a new era, defined by our ability
accessible is clearly the next step. I believe it’s likely
to generate volumes of data in a single session. When
we delete more Nature papers than we publish.
Mike Coy | Senior Director, Global Applications Marketing
world as the market leader in in-situ technology,
David Nackashi, PhD | CEO, Co-founder
I tell my friends that many of our customers easily fill Before COVID when friends and family would get
a 1 terabyte drive in a couple of hours or less, they
In these regular newsletters, we look forward to
together around the holidays, I’d inevitably get the
immediately think about how to search, manage and
sharing with you many applications explored through
question from a cousin or aunt, “So … what does
store all that information … one of the big problems
our in situ systems, and how linking them to our
Protochips do?” For the next minute I’d try to describe
we’re all trying to solve.
machine vision platform, AXON, creates an entirely new methods of discovery. You’ll meet our team, our
electron microscopy, resorting to poor analogies that only confused the discussion further until a point
People often ask why is Protochips, a company known
customers, and most importantly, learn what your
where we both decided we needed more wine. I’m
for in situ microscopy, working on these issues? Well,
colleagues are researching around the world. Thank
sure this moment sounds familiar to all you. Often
it’s because we were a part of the problem. In situ
you for taking the time to explore with us, and for
the pain points we’re trying to solve aren’t familiar or
microscopy brings in data streams from many different
many reasons, I hope you soon will enjoy a moment
directly relatable to many people, unless you explain
sources, including potentiostats, mass spec systems,
when a friend asks you what you do for a living!
things at a level so high it’s pretty nebulous.
power supplies and other instrumentation. It became
I don’t feel the same way anymore. Not only do I look
clear to us that synchronizing all this information within
forward to getting together with family and friends
a S/TEM image stack that’s stable and in focus was
left to right- Dr. Stefano Rubino, Ariel Roytman, Dr. Bushra Alam
The sales and service team consists of talented
DISTRIBUTOR SPOTLIGHT
individuals with strong technical backgrounds in nanofabrication, electron microscopy, and life sciences. Their business focuses on providing cuttingedge product solutions to Canadian research and industry sectors.
Protochips is proud to introduce our new Canadian channel sales partner, Soquelec Limited! For all our current and future customers in Canada, Soquelec will be your dedicated Protochips resource for support. Protochips will work closely with Soquelec to provide exceptional support across Canada. Dylan Wood, the Americas Regional Sales Manager at Protochips, will guide the team effort. For all Sales, Service, Applications, and Technical inquiries, please
The Soquelec team includes: Dakota Binkley, MASc. in Materials Science & Engineering; Sales; Quebec and the Maritimes Dr. Stefano Rubino, Doctorate in Applied Physics; CTO & Sales; Western Canada Dr.Bushra Alam, Doctorate in Nanoscale Science and Engineering; Sales; Ontario and the Maritimes
contact sales@soquelec.com.
Ariel Roytman, MSc. in Medical Sciences; Sales and Service; Canada wide
Soquelec Limited, based in Montreal Quebec,
Philippe Semana, B.Eng; Vice President of Operations
represents a multitude of high-end imaging and
Marc Slakmon, MBA; President
characterization technology venders across Canada. Since Soquelec was founded in 1974, they have been involved in over 200 electron microscopy and 50 micro-CT installations nationwide. In addition, Soquelec remains extremely invested in R&D and educational outreach activities.
OUR CUSTOMERS
| Dr. Houari AMARI, IKZ Berlin
“AXON software is one of the most exciting tools I have ever used. It provides unique experience by taking away all experimental instabilities during a TEM session and synchronizes data with images and movies. This helps the user to gain time by focusing on his sample and not losing time on correcting the drift, the focus…etc. It also works perfectly for ex-situ TEM imaging, where recording ultra-high-resolution images becomes very easy without any drift issues.”
NEW PRODUCT ANNOUNCEMENT!
EMPLOYEE SPOTLIGHT
Nynke Krans Applications Scientist Location: The Netherlands
Protochips proudly announced AXON Dose in early February. Dose is the
Nynke started her PhD project at the Inorganic
first and only solution on the market for complete management of dose in the
Chemistry and Catalysis group in 2015 at Utrecht
transmission electron microscope.
University under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Ir. Krijn de Jong and Dr. Jovana Zečević. During
Built on top of the unparalleled stability provided by AXON Synchronicity,
this PhD project, she investigated the attachment
AXON Dose consists of a novel, software-controlled Faraday Cup Holder for
of colloidal iron oxide nanoparticles to various
accurate measurement and calibration of your TEM and advanced software for
support materials for the Fischer-Tropsch reaction,
automated management and analysis of dose on your sample.
with a focus on the use of electron microscopy. After finishing her PhD in 2020, she worked for the
By utilizing advanced visual and graphic tools, AXON Dose enables a new level
National Institute for Public Health and the Environment on nanomaterial safety
of understanding of beam/sample dynamics and improve rigor and reproducibility
policies. In 2021 she joined Protochips as an applications scientist specializing
of your experiments.
in specializing in in-situ liquid phase (S)TEM. Nynke has a lot of experience working with nanomaterials and catalysts in the liquid cell, using organic liquids
All dose information is automatically integrated in every image and fully available
and using various preparation methods. Most of her time is spent educating,
for analysis in AXON Studio, alongside over 150 other pieces of metadata, live
helping and discussing experiments with new and experiences customers. Her
during the experiment or back in your office.
work is published in internationally renowned journals and she has presented her work at multiple (inter)national conferences
HIGHLIGHTED FLASH TALK Reaction Dynamics of Calcium-ion Battery Electrolytes Explored by In Situ Electrochemical TEM Presented by: Professor Alexander Robertson from University of Oxford
SCAN OR CLICK TO WATCH!
Beta Tilting Supports PRODUCT SPOTLIGHT: Friction-Free High Resolution Imaging In Situ Jennifer McConnell | Product Manager
The Protochips Fusion Select system is equipped with a one-of-kind beta tilt motor design that enables you to find zone axis at high resolution without interrupting your application of temperature or electrical stimuli. We call this “friction-free tilting”, and it is critical to the success of an in situ experiment.
The unique tilt table of the Fusion Select enables two key necessities to achieving high resolution in situ imaging: •
Super smooth motor bearings that do not introduce vibrations or jittering into the image
•
Reliable electrical contact between the holder and the chip while tilting to prevent fluctuation in temperature, electrical signals, and breakage of the E-chip Figure 1: Protochips Fusion Select holder
Why are the above points important, you ask? Great question!
Preventing Vibrations or Jittering While Tilting As an experienced microscopist, you know that simply breathing near the TEM can
A)
B)
cause instabilities in the image. You can imagine that a mechanical vibration from the holder would cause an insurmountable amount of noise in the image, preventing you from achieving the resolution you came to the TEM for. The super smooth motor bearing in Fusion Select is like the difference between the smooth ride of an airplane (sans turbulence of course) versus the bumpy ride in a 40-year-old vehicle on a dirt road.
Figure 2: examples of imaging disturbances that can be caused by mechanical vibrations, this is not an in situ experiment, no dynamics are occurring a) tears in the image, b) loss of resolution and blurring
Reliable Electrical Contact While Tilting This may be even more important than the smoothness of the tilt because this ensures no interruption of the application of your in situ stimuli. Interruptions in heating or electrical applications can completely change the results of the experiment. If you have temperature fluctuations, like sudden quenching and heating, from unreliable contacts, the entire experiment is now altered. The morphological or chemical changes noted in the sample now could be very different than if constant temperature was maintained throughout the experiment.
Figure 3: Fusion Select inside of a microscope pole piece. Left: Holder is at 0 degrees beta tilt. Right: holder is tilted in beta, the chip and the probes on the holder tilt as one unit.
Notice in Figure 3 how the probes on the holder tilt WITH the E-chip. When the E-chip and probes tilt together, a very sturdy and reliable electrical contact between the two is maintained, meaning stable temperature and no added electrical noise while tilting to find zone axis. In addition, this is the safest mechanism for the chip and prevents breakage.
In summary, Fusion Select is an excellent in situ system for fundamental materials science studies and material characterization as you can achieve maximum resolution even while tilting without interrupting the in situ experiment being performed. The beta tilting mechanism should be an important factor when choosing your in situ system as it can have a profound effect on your results.
Fusion Select is completely compatible with the Protochips AXON machine vision software platform for TEM, adding an additional level of control and organization over your experiment.
HIGHLIGHTED PUBLICATION
FEATURED WHITE PAPER Application Note: Poseidon & AXON | By: Dr. Madeline Dukes
Over the last decade, liquid electron microscopy (liquid-EM) has grown from a curiosity to a fundamental tool in the repertoire of materials and life sciences research. Liquid samples are isolated from the column vacuum of the transmission electron microscope (TEM) using a variety of different strategies, the majority of which enclose the sample between two electron transparent membranes such as silicon nitride (SiN) or graphene. Thus, samples can move and react freely under observation, enabling real-time processes such as growth, degradation, and sample interactions to be observed at resolutions ranging from nanometers to a few angstroms. Although Liquid-EM has enabled new and exciting research, interpreting the results remains challenging, particularly due to the difficulty of de-coupling the effect of the electron beam itself from the native sample behaviour.
SCAN OR CLICK TO READ!
WHERE ARE WE?
TOKYO Protochips Japan
EVENTS
AIMS
ISM Israel
April 8, 2022 Phoenix, AZ
May 17, 2022 Haifa
In Situ Academy for EMEA
AXON and AXON Dose workshop
PICO Conference
CAM workshop
May 3-4, 2022 Berlin
June 8-9, 2022 Paris
May 8-12, 2022 Castell Vaals
June 14-15, 2022 Fraunhofer IMWS, Halle
Spring MRS
Katalytiker-Treffen
SEMS (Southeastern Microscopy Society)
Microscopy & Microanalysis 2022
78th Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society of Microscopy
The 4th East-Asia Microscopy Conference
May 8-13, 2022 Honolulu, HI
June 27-29, 2022 Weimar
May 18-20 Jacksonville Beach, FL
July 31-Aug 4, 2022 Portland, OR
May 11-13 Fukushima, Japan
CONTACT www.protochips.com
Protochips Headquarters:
3800 Gateway Centre Blvd #306 Morrisville, NC 27560 USA Phone: +1.919.377.0800
Dec 1-4, 2022 Taipei