Imago microscope leads to Northwestern research advance

Researchers at Northwestern University have announced that a type of atom probe developed by Madison-based Imago Scientific allowed them to produce data on the arrangement of individual gold atoms they couldn't have gotten otherwise.

The local electrode atom probe, or LEAP, microscope was used to map the position of atoms in three dimensions. Imago developed the system based on University of Wisconsin-Madison technology and has sold it since 2003. Users so far have included Seagate, which develops hard drives.

Northwestern's advance was featured on the cover of this month's Nano Letters. In addition to doing research, Northwestern offers contract measurement services using the microscope to other academics and to industry.