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Silver News
Breakthrough in Materials Microanalysis Uses
Silver
By Samuel Etris, Senior Technical Consultant to The Silver
Institute
The special properties of silver are allowing
electron microscopes to identify objects down to one hundredth
the thickness of a human hair.
A new device uses silver in its temperature
sensor to detect and convert heat from x-ray energy emitted
from the material that is being analyzed. The silver detector,
which functions inside the scanning electron microscope at
a temperature close to absolute zero, is therefore extremely
sensitive.
The device has high enough resolution that
it can even determine the proportions of such difficult to
analyze combinations as titanium and nitrogen, and tungsten
and silicon.
The scanning electron microscope, which enlarges
invisibly small objects to over 100,000 times, can combine
its powerful enlargement capability with the ability to analyze
the makeup of an infinitesimal portion of the material under
examination. The new device may make possible a wide range
of potential applications from forensic analysis to quality
control of microelectronic chips.
Quality control at one hundredth the thickness
of a human hair is a major concern to the enormous semiconductor
industry that manufactures tiny microprocessors with millions
of transistors and other components. The reliability of these
microprocessors is essential to the performance of an ever
increasing range of products vital to human safety from air
traffic control systems to the efficient operation of automobile
engines.
A study is now underway to develop the silver-using
device into a commercial instrument for the microanalysis
of materials. The new device is expected to find a wide variety
of applications throughout all high technology industries,
from new electronic device research to the development of
new metal alloys.
This research was done by the Electronics
and Electrical Engineering Laboratory, National Institute
of Standards and Technology in Boulder, Colorado.
Silver News - December 1996/January 1997
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