DUSSELDORF, Germany, Feb. 23 (UPI) -- Max Planck scientists in Germany have unveiled the world's first 3-D electron microscope designed to examine nanomaterial structure.
Researchers say the microscope simultaneously and automatically investigates in three-dimensions the phase content, crystallographic texture and crystal interfaces of nanomaterials.
The microscope, designed at the Max Planck Institute for Iron Research in Düsseldorf, contains a high-resolution scanning electron microscope and an -ion-beam microscope.
In the past, those two types of microscopes have been used separately. But they've been integrated into a single instrument along with detectors that can measure electron diffraction patterns and orientations, as well as perform chemical analyses.
The new microscope will reportedly allow scientists to see the inner structure of nanomaterials, biological matter, and high-performance steels, in ways that other microscopic procedures cannot -- and in full 3-D.
The research is described in the journal Acta Materialia.
