Oxford Instruments wins King’s Award for Enterprise
Innovative electron backscatter diffraction tool has made a niche technology more widely accessible
UK-based Oxford Instruments has been awarded the King’s Award for Enterprise for Innovation for its Symmetry detector. Symmetry uses a technique called electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) to analyse surfaces for minuscule weaknesses or flaws in the crystalline structure, for a wide range of applications from semiconductors to developing stronger aircraft turbine blades.
“Symmetry was developed to provide our customers with a step change in performance and has enabled them to achieve significant speed and sensitivity gains as they aim to better understand and improve the properties of materials,” said Dr Ian Wilcock, managing director, Oxford Instruments Materials Analysis Group. “It was a tremendous team effort, demonstrating innovation at Oxford Instruments at its best, and I am delighted for those efforts to recognised with such a prestigious accolade as the King’s Award for Enterprise.”
The introduction of Symmetry dramatically increased the speed, sensitivity and resolution of EBSD analysis, according to the company. Previously, analysing a large surface with EBSD was a painstaking process that could take hours, and a research laboratory had to choose between high-resolution or rapid results.
Now, by adding Symmetry to an electron microscope chamber, analysis is possible in a matter of minutes. This step-change was made possible by a radically new detector design which combined a fibreoptic lens with a CMOS detector. The result was the only instrument to provide high resolution imagery at high speed.
