MIT.nano has announced that Oxford Instruments Asylum Research, a company that manufactures and supplies atomic force microscopy (AFM) instruments for academic research and industrial R&D, has joined the MIT.nano Consortium.
Asylum Research, one of seven businesses comprising the Oxford Instruments Group, designs tools for characterizing samples from both materials and bioscience research. In addition to imaging, their equipment has quantitative measurement capabilities for nanoelectrical, nanomechanical, and electromechanical characterization.
"We are excited to welcome Oxford Instruments Asylum Research to the MIT.nano Consortium," says Vladimir Bulović, the founding faculty director of MIT.nano and the Fariborz Maseeh (1990) Professor of Emerging Technology. "Their technical expertise and cutting-edge atomic force microscopy instruments will propel the impact of MIT's discoveries and open the door to new nanoscale horizons in our future research."
Two Asylum Research AFM microscopes - the Cypher VRS video-rate AFM and the Jupiter XR large-sample AFM - have been added to the tool set in MIT.nano's characterization facility. The Cypher VRS, offering high-resolution video-rate imaging up to 625 lines per second, will allow researchers to measure nanoscale dynamic processes at video frame rates. The Jupiter XR, a large-sample AFM provided to MIT as part of the membership agreement, will provide both high-speed imaging and extended range in a single scanner. An Asylum Research visiting scientist embedded at MIT.nano will support research activities, including use of these microscopes, as well as collaborate with MIT researchers.
"Asylum Research is thrilled to provide support to the important scientific mission of MIT.nano and affiliated researchers," says Terry Hannon, president of Oxford Instruments Asylum Research. "From next-generation energy materials to better-understanding diseases and their treatment to new materials for microelectronic devices, MIT researchers are at the forefront of many of the world's most urgent challenges. Our atomic force microscopes will enable them to extend this research to even smaller dimensions and provide deeper insights."
In MIT.nano's quarterly industry consortium meetings, Asylum Research will provide advice alongside 12 other consortium companies to help guide and advance nanoscale innovations at MIT:
- Analog Devices
- Dow
- Draper
- DSM
- Edwards
- Fujikura
- IBM
- Lam Research
- NCSOFT
- NEC
- Raith
- Waters Corporation
MIT.nano continues to welcome new companies as sustaining members. For more details, visit the MIT.nano Consortium page.
