Xradia Announces $2.0M Contract for Hard X-ray Nanoprobe Instrument.

CONCORD, Calif. & ARGONNE, Ill. -- Xradia, Inc., a developer and manufacturer of ultra-high-resolution x-ray imaging systems for 3D tomography and nanotechnology applications, today announced the award of a $2M contract from the Argonne National Laboratory's Center for Nanoscale Materials (CNM). The contract calls for the participation in the design and engineering of a high resolution hard x-ray nanoprobe instrument (NPI) for 30nm high-resolution elemental and structural analysis using scanning probe and full-field transmission x-ray microscopy. The NPI will be installed at the Hard X-ray Nanoprobe Beamline at Argonne's Advanced Photon Source (APS) as part of a joint development effort between the CNM and APS.

High resolution x-ray microscopy is of growing importance for research and industry in such diverse fields as alternative energy, advanced semiconductor development, bio technology and life sciences, advanced materials and nanotechnology. The unique ability of x-rays to penetrate samples of interest non-destructively, combined with x-ray optics that enable high-resolution microscopy, gives researchers and engineers unprecedented access to knowledge about the inner structure and nature of objects both man-made and natural in origin. The NPI will be one of the major characterization tools at the Center for Nanoscale Materials. "The Hard X-ray Nanoprobe will provide x-ray characterization at a spatial resolution of 30nm which substantially exceeds the optical limit," said Dr. Eric Isaacs, Director of CNM. "When integrated with CNM's materials synthesis, fabrication, theory and other characterization capabilities, the NPI will revolutionize the design of materials at the nanoscale," said Isaacs.

"This project will push the state of the art in x-ray microscopy to new levels of resolution, both in terms of x-ray optics, and precision mechanical design," said Dr. Jorg Maser, principal researcher at the Center for Nanoscale Materials. "With their commercial leadership in x-ray optics, and turnkey x-ray microscope instrumentation, Xradia is specially qualified to contribute to the design and to execute much of the system construction," said Maser.

"We are delighted to be teaming up with CNM on this critical program," said Dr. Wenbing Yun, President and founder of Xradia. "Pushing x-ray optics to new levels of resolution, and marrying that with advanced system design and imaging software, opens up exciting new applications in a wide range of disciplines and also helps Xradia's commercial systems stay at the forefront," said Yun.

About Xradia, Inc.

Xradia, Inc. is a privately held company established in 2000 to commercialize high-resolution x-ray microscopes for nondestructive inspection and nano-scale imaging. Initially targeted at failure analysis in the semiconductor IC industry, subsequent developments have led to a suite of commercial x-ray imaging products that have permitted expansion into markets that include metrology in semiconductor IC production, scientific equipment, biomedical research and nanotechnology development.

About Argonne National Laboratory 

The nation's first national laboratory, Argonne National Laboratory conducts basic and applied scientific research across a wide spectrum of disciplines, ranging from high-energy physics to climatology and biotechnology. Since 1990, Argonne has worked with more than 600 companies and numerous federal agencies and other organizations to help advance America's scientific leadership and prepare the nation for the future. Argonne is managed by the University of Chicago for the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science.