{"id":456261,"date":"2022-10-17T17:41:20","date_gmt":"2022-10-17T20:41:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/?p=456261"},"modified":"2023-07-18T00:29:38","modified_gmt":"2023-07-18T03:29:38","slug":"new-system-improves-the-performance-of-atomic-resolution-microscopes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/new-system-improves-the-performance-of-atomic-resolution-microscopes\/","title":{"rendered":"New system improves the performance of atomic-resolution microscopes"},"content":{"rendered":"

Chicago-based RHK Technology, a company specializing in atomic-resolution scanning tunneling microscopes, unveiled a newly developed product with an optimized light-collection system during the American Physical Society conference held in March this year in the US. The device collects light into the microscope with more than three-times-higher efficiency than previous models. The new system was developed at the Gleb Wataghin Institute of Physics at the University of Campinas (IFGW-UNICAMP), in Brazil.<\/p>\n

The project was led by physicist Luiz Fernando Zagonel, a professor at IFGW, in collaboration with Ricardo Javier Pe\u00f1a Rom\u00e1n and Yves Maia Auad, both doctoral researchers at respectively UNICAMP and Paris-Saclay University, in France. For their new technology, now licensed as part of a market-ready product, the team received a 2022 Inventors\u2019 Award from UNICAMP in the \u201cTechnology Uptake\u201d category.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis new technology provides a crucial capability for some of our customers: the ability to study light emission from samples and their electronic and topographic characteristics,\u201d RHK Technology founder and CEO Adam Kollin told Pesquisa FAPESP<\/em>. \u201cThe system can be incorporated into one of our products with minor modifications, making it easy to deliver these new capabilities to the scientific community.\u201d The new device has been branded as PanScan Lumin-SLT.<\/p>\n

The project, funded by FAPESP via its Young Investigator Program, was created to address a need Zagonel identified during a postdoctoral fellowship at Paris-Sud University (now Paris-Saclay University) between 2008 and 2010. He was researching semiconducting nanowires and was unable to find a microscope that met his research requirements. After contacting different suppliers, he was offered equipment that captured only a fraction of the light emitted by the sample\u2014between 2% and 5%. He was left dissatisfied as a customer and frustrated as a researcher.<\/p>\n

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L\u00e9o Ramos Chaves\u2009\/\u2009Pesquisa FAPESP<\/span>IFGW-UNICAMP\u2019s scanning tunneling microscopeL\u00e9o Ramos Chaves\u2009\/\u2009Pesquisa FAPESP<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

So he turned his need into a technological challenge. \u201cDuring the two years I spent in France, I was able to identify and resolve several research problems. This turned into multiple research papers and patents,\u201d says Zagonel. Back in Brazil in 2015, his FAPESP-funded research project led to the development of a device with a light-capture efficiency of up to 72%. The system has three components: a small optical table designed to be attached to a scanning tunnelling microscope; a manipulator system with movement in three directions; and a parabolic mirror.<\/p>\n

Understanding the significance of these improvements requires an understanding of how scanning tunnelling microscopes (STM) work. To obtain images with atomic resolution, these devices exploit a quantum phenomenon known as tunneling current, which occurs when electrons move in between two surfaces a distance of approximately 1 nm\u2014or a billionth of a meter\u2014apart. In scanning tunnelling microscopy, electrons pass between the microscope\u2019s metal tip and the sample, resulting in energy transfer to the sample, which emits light that is then captured by the microscope.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe problem was being able to capture the emitted light using an STM operating within an ultrahigh vacuum environment and at low temperatures, which is what the device was designed for,\u201d explains Zagonel. To illustrate the challenge, the researcher makes the following analogy. \u201cImagine a car\u2019s headlight. It has a light source and a reflector designed to collect most of the emitted light and point it forward to the road. Without the reflector, much of the light would be emitted in every direction rather than toward the road. The same principle applies to an STM microscope. There is a tiny light source, which is the sample itself. We needed to find a way to capture as much of the light as possible and direct it forward so it can be measured.\u201d<\/p>\n

Most of the equipment then available on the market, says Zagonel, used optical fibers or lenses that captured only a small fraction of the light emitted by the sample. The device developed at UNICAMP uses a miniaturized parabolic reflector to solve this problem. The improved light collection efficiency helps to produce more detailed data about the light emitted by the specimen, providing a wealth of data about materials with scientific and commercial applications, such as semiconductors, metal nanostructures, and other nanostructured materials.<\/p>\n<\/div>

\n \n \n \n <\/picture>Rodrigo Cunha<\/span><\/div>
\n

\u201cWe developed a novel technological solution. Conventional fiber-optic-based systems have a very low efficiency, not exceeding 5%. Using lenses, this can be improved to between 10% and 20%, which is still too little. Getting past the 50% barrier would require the use of parabolic or ellipsoid reflectors. This improves light collection efficiency, but aligning the mirror remained a challenging problem,\u201d explains Zagonel. \u201cOur solution combines a parabolic reflector with a three-axis, high-precision manipulator. This assembly allows us to align the mirrors so the system actually works.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now, with additional FAPESP grant funding, Zagonel is using his invention to research materials that can potentially be used to create light-emitting diodes and solar cells made of inorganic perovskites (see <\/em>Pesquisa FAPESP issue n\u00ba 260<\/em><\/a>). \u201cThere are a number of problems related to renewable energy that need to be resolved,\u201d says Zagonel. \u201cAnd our equipment can help achieve a better structural understanding of materials that could be key to developing new renewables technologies.\u201d<\/p>\n

From patent to shelf
\n<\/strong>This was UNICAMP\u2019s first licensing agreement giving it 100% ownership of patent rights as the licensor. \u201cUnder previous agreements we always co-owned the patent rights with a partner company,\u201d explains Iara Silva Ferreira, who serves as partnership director at UNICAMP\u2019s innovation agency, INOVA. The time from patent to market was surprisingly short. UNICAMP applied for a patent on the invention in July 2020, and by December 2021 it had signed a technology transfer agreement with RHK.<\/p>\n

Two factors were crucial in speeding up the process: the researcher had prospected for commercial partners early in the project, and the technology had reached a high level of maturity, explains Ferreira. \u201cProfessor Zagonel identified an unmet demand in the market, and did more than just apply for a patent. And the solution\u2019s Technology Readiness Level (TRL) helped to shorten time to market.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Ferreira, whereas most of the University\u2019s projects never went past a TRL of 3\u2014on a scale of 1 to 9\u2014the device developed at IFGW was at a TRL of 5, meaning it could be readily integrated into RHK\u2019s product. The higher the TRL, the readier the technology is for the market.<\/p>\n

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L\u00e9o Ramos Chaves\u2009\/\u2009Pesquisa FAPESP<\/span>The rear window of the chamber used to allow the passage of light for measurementL\u00e9o Ramos Chaves\u2009\/\u2009Pesquisa FAPESP<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cOur invention\u2019s higher TRL was partly because, from very early in the project, we had a company interested in later licensing the technology,\u201d says Zagonel. \u201cIn addition, our solution incorporates important features, such as alignment protocols, and had been previously tested and proven by journals.\u201d<\/p>\n

Zagonel notes that as he was developing the device he approached a number of manufacturers as potential partners. RHK was especially receptive to his ideas and agreed to sell a microscope specially adapted for his invention to the Photovoltaics Research Group in IFGW\u2019s Applied Physics Department. The equipment, newly added to FAPESP\u2019s inventory of shared equipment, is now available to other research groups.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen our project proved successful and we started publishing our first papers, we soon began discussing a potential technology transfer. INOVA has provided assistance and intermediation support at each step in the process, from our early results to now,\u201d says Zagonel.<\/p>\n

\u201cSupport from an innovation agency can be crucial in bringing technology developed in an academic setting to the market,\u201d says Luciana Hashiba, a researcher at the Center for Innovation at the Getulio Vargas Foundation\u2019s School of Business Administration in S\u00e3o Paulo (FGV\/EAESP). \u201cAnd having a technological innovation group at a research institute can help researchers develop the project with a market-oriented mindset,\u201d adds Hashiba, who also serves as assistant coordinator of FAPESP’s Scientific Board. \u201cThis can make all the difference when it comes to technology transfer.\u201d<\/p>\n

RHK is now planning to launch initiatives to boost sales of their new system. \u201cAs soon as we finish the marketing literature, we will start an advertising push for the microscope,\u201d says RHK CEO Kollin. \u201cWe also plan to organize a technical webinar with professor Zagonel to provide a sound scientific explanation of the new system.\u201d<\/p>\n

Projects
\n1.<\/strong> Heterostructures in semiconducting nanowires: nanometric light emitters studied by scanning tunneling microscopy (n\u00ba 14\/23399-9<\/a>); Grant Mechanism<\/strong> Young Investigator Award; Principal Investigator <\/strong>Luiz Fernando Zagonel (UNICAMP); Investment<\/strong> R$617,335.61.
\n2.<\/strong> Optically active materials studied by scanning tunneling microscopy (n\u00ba 21\/06893-3<\/a>); Grant Mechanism<\/strong> Young Investigator Award; Principal Investigator <\/strong>Luiz Fernando Zagonel (UNICAMP); Investment<\/strong> R$1,010,676.95.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Innovation developed at UNICAMP launched on the global market by American company","protected":false},"author":131,"featured_media":456262,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[169],"tags":[259,227,243,254],"coauthors":[440],"class_list":["post-456261","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technology","tag-chemistry","tag-energy","tag-innovation","tag-optics","position_at_home-sumario"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/456261","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/131"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=456261"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/456261\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":457184,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/456261\/revisions\/457184"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/456262"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=456261"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=456261"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=456261"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=456261"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}