Carl Zeiss acquires microscope company.

Oberkochen, Germany and Peabody, MA 7/19/06--Carl Zeiss SMT AG's Nanotechnology Systems Division has acquired ALIS, developer of the Looking Glass LG2 helium ion microscope. "The Helium ion microscopy technology developed by ALIS complements our market leading scanning electron microscopy (SEM) technology and will be a key element of our future technology roadmap. It offers unrivalled opportunities for sub-nanometer imaging, depth-of-focus capabilities and new image contrast features.," stated Dr. Dirk Stenkamp, managing director of Carl Zeiss NITS. The acquisition is expected to dose in the third quarter.

ALIS' scanning ion microscope uses helium atoms for higher resolution and faster imaging compared to electron microscopes (see IBO 7/15/06). Founded in 2005, AIdS has 36 employees. The rapid acquisition of the technology, which was just introduced, highlights the growing competition among electron microscope suppliers.