Dear Visitor from Nanowerk.com,

a warm welcome to the nanoanalysis pages of Bruker AXS Microanalysis. Here you will find:

  • Information on our instrumentation for elemental analysis for the nanoworld using electron microscopes
  • Information on our instrumentation for scanning probe / atomic force microscopy
  • Application reports.
The NANOS measuring head

A few words on our current banner:


The photo used shows the NANOS measuring head, which is common to all scanning probe microscopes by Bruker Nano. It is the only SPM head that approximates size and shape of a standard optical microscope objective. You can switch from optical to scanning probe microscopy with a simple turn of the microscope turret.

A unique feature of all Bruker Nano AFM / SPM products is the employment of fiber optic interferometery (FOI) detection for excellent resolution on all sample sizes. FOI provides superior sensitivity as well as calibrated deflection. Calibrated deflection means that results are output in nm and not V. These results are highly reproducible due to the exact knowledge of all crucial parameters.

195 µm x 140 µm scan of a TFT panel

The NANOS scanning head is available with a number of different scanning ranges. The application image in our banner was made using a version with a very large scanning area. The image contains a 3D-representation of a topography scan of a TFT panel. Size of the scan is 195 µm x 140 µm. The biggest height difference is 970 nm.

Please visit our AFM / SPM pages to learn more about the powerful NANOS N8 Series instruments.

Map of an etched CMOS

... on our last banner:

The image is an overlay of an elemental map and a secondary electron image obtained with a high resolution field emission electron microscope. The accelerating voltage was reduced to 4 kV to obtain the high quality of the map. The specimen analyzed was a CMOS chip which was first etched and then broken. The fracture edge can be identified as the red and blue region in front. Highlighted is an 85 nm thin layer of TiN which functions as an adhesion promoting agent between the conductor path (above) and the Si-substrate.

Gold-containing nano-particles

... and the one before:

It contains an SE image of two nano-particles at 70,000x magnification generated in a high-resolution FE-SEM. This image was overlaid with an elemental map generated with our QUANTAX EDS microanalysis system using an XFlash 5030® Detector. While the original image already hints that there is something in the center of the nanoparticles, the colored elemental map confirms that the particles are a composite structure. They consist of a core of gold (Au) with a shell of mainly silicon (Si) and oxygen (O) - glass.

Please have a look at our QUANTAX EDS System with the XFlash® 5030 Detector, which is especially suitable for nanoanalysis. You are also welcome to use our information request form if you have special questions, e.g. regarding the above applications.