ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico , August 4, 2008. At the Microscopy & Microanalysis 2008 Annual Meeting, Bruker AXS Microanalysis introduced several new products and options for Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) based materials analysis.

The innovative new QUANTAX CrystAlign TM system for SEM-based crystallographic analysis via electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) consists of an ultra-fast EBSD detector and powerful, yet easy-to-use EBSD analysis software that is seamlessly integrated with Bruker’s EDS software, ESPRIT TM.  The combination of EBSD with Energy Dispersive X-Ray Spectroscopy (EDS) offers more comprehensive materials characterization capabilities in Scanning Electron Microscopes for a broad range of applications on metals, ceramics, and geological samples. 

Dr. Gert Nolze, EBSD Product Manager at Bruker AXS Microanalysis, commented: "The new Bruker CrystAlign EBSD system provides several innovative capabilities: ultra-fast acquisition rates of up to 750 patterns per second with the unique ability of scanning the sample at a constant frame rate and storing the patterns as a string of images for subsequent indexing and evaluation. This novel EBSD collection strategy. allows investigation of individual patterns and re-analysis of the crystal orientation maps without repeated data acquisition."

CrystAlign Image: Damascene steel with clearly
visible layer structure

Bruker AXS Executive Vice President Thomas Schuelein stated: "Bruker has reached an important milestone in its microanalysis strategy, aimed at further extending the versatility and analytical power of its product lines for the micro- and nanoanalysis markets.  Our novel CrystAlign system supplements the capabilities of our QUANTAX EDS system by providing powerful tools for EBSD data acquisition, interpretation and display of results, while making the EBSD technique more accessible to the general microanalysis and SEM user."