Towards the commercialization of compressed ultrafast transmission electron microscopy (CUTEM) (Phase I)

迈向压缩超快透射电子显微镜 (CUTEM) 的商业化（第一阶段）

• 批准号: 566809-2021
• 负责人: Liang, Jinyang
• 金额: $ 8.6万
• 依托单位: Institut national de la recherche scientifique
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Idea to Innovation
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2021-01-01 至 2022-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=728726
• 关键词: Towards; commercialization; compressed; ultrafast; transmission

Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) is indispensable to numerous applications. Its global market size, valued at US$ 556-993 million in 2020, has expanded at an average growth rate of 9.4% in the past decade. However, existing techniques do not have sufficient imaging speeds and sequence depths to follow many irreversible materials transformations or biological processes. To overcome these limitations, we recently invented compressed ultrafast transmission electron microscopy (CUTEM). Built upon a commercially available dynamic TEM system, CUTEM will add a spatial encoding mask at the selected area aperture plane and will apply a high-voltage ramp to the pair of sweep electrodes. With these economical and simple modifications, CUTEM will enhance the temporal resolution by 1000× and the sequence depth by 100× compared with the state-of-the-art movie-mode dynamic TEM. This unprecedented imaging capability allows CUTEM to open new avenues for studying previously inaccessible physics and chemistry in materials and biology. A market study funded by NSERC and INRS has demonstrated a great interest from both TEM manufacturers and users.This NSERC I2I-Phase I project aims to further develop the CUTEM technique toward a commercial product. In total, four Aims are proposed to integrate a spatial encoding mask and a sweep pulse generator into an existing TEM machine, to improve image reconstruction speed in CUTEM, and to demonstrate single-shot nanometer-picosecond imaging using the CUTEM prototype. The established theoretical framework, mature technical foundation, and straightforward engineering procedure endow the low technical risks of this project. In turn, these merits will ensure the on-time execution and fast progress of this project and will speed up future technology transfer and device commercialization.

透射式电子显微镜是许多应用中不可缺少的。其全球市场规模在2020年价值5.56-9.93亿美元，在过去十年中以9.4%的平均增长率扩张。然而，现有的技术没有足够的成像速度和序列深度来跟踪许多不可逆的材料转变或生物过程。为了克服这些限制，我们最近发明了压缩超快透射电子显微镜(Cutem)。在商业上可用的动态瞬变电磁系统的基础上，Cutem将在选定的区域孔径平面上添加一个空间编码掩模，并将高压斜坡施加到这对扫描电极上。通过这些经济和简单的修改，与最先进的电影模式动态瞬变电磁法相比，Cutem将把时间分辨率提高1000倍，序列深度提高100倍。这一前所未有的成像能力使Cutem为研究材料和生物学中以前无法访问的物理和化学开辟了新的途径。由NSERC和INRS资助的一项市场研究表明，TEM制造商和用户都非常感兴趣。NSERC I2I-I阶段项目旨在将Cutem技术进一步发展为商业化产品。总而言之，提出了四个目标：将空间编码掩模和扫描脉冲发生器集成到现有的瞬变电磁机中，提高Cutem的图像重建速度，以及使用Cutem原型演示单次激发的纳皮秒成像。已建立的理论框架、成熟的技术基础、直截了当的工程流程使该项目的技术风险较低。反过来，这些优点将确保该项目的按时实施和快速进展，并将加快未来的技术转让和设备商业化。