Chapter 1542: Industry-Changing Results

Three months later, Oregon.

Patrick Mahach, FEI's chief technical officer, had just picked up his scarf and pea coat draped over the back of his chair and was about to enjoy his late lunch.

But at this moment, the scientific research secretary Sophia Pilz came in with a not-so-thick document, looking a little more serious than usual:

"Mr. Mahachi, this is this week's literature report."

After saying that, he placed the documents in his hand on the desk.

Mahachi paused in surprise and glanced at the calendar next to him: "Sonia, isn't today Thursday?"

Although there is no explicit rule, by convention, summary reports are usually not submitted until Friday.

Of course, he was just asking casually and didn't really care. He quickly started to tidy up his scarf again:

"Let's not talk about work for now. I'm going to have lunch. I heard there's some delicious grilled salmon today... Do you want to go to the restaurant with me?"

Pilz is the daughter of an old friend of Mahachi. It can be said that she grew up under the latter's care. The two often have meals together without causing any misunderstandings.

But this time, Pierce stood still:

"Compared to lunch, there is a very important result here. I think it... may even change the rules of the game in the entire field of microstructure characterization, so I sorted it out a day in advance."

"Change the rules of the game?" Mahachi finally showed some seriousness, but still felt that the secretary's words were a bit too alarmist.

He has seen too many studies that are claimed to be "breakthroughs" but often end up falling into obscurity.

But since the other party had already said so, Mahachi couldn't continue to ignore it.

So he put down his scarf and coat, sat back in the large leather chair, and opened the document with a hint of helplessness and curiosity.

The first thing that catches your eye is a paper published in the journal Advanced Materials.

A three-dimensional reconstruction method for transmission electron microscopy

This is indeed a pretty heavy title.

Since Richard Feynman proposed the problem of single-atom positioning to the electron microscopy community in 1959, how to obtain three-dimensional images using electron microscopes has always been one of the most cutting-edge research topics in this field.

However, Mahachi's expression quickly relaxed again.

"Oh, it's this one..." He reached out and tapped the publication date on the lower left corner of the paper. "It was published last week. I read it a few days ago."

As he spoke, he reread a few lines of summary and key formulas to make sure his memory was correct.

"The idea is very interesting. It solves the old problem of three-dimensional data distortion from a mathematical perspective. However..." He shrugged, his tone full of the nitpicking of a technical expert. "It is more like a sophisticated applied mathematics paper. It has limited guidance for practical operations, especially for the core obstacle of the difference between field of view and information source..."

Mahachi's tone suddenly became strange again: "To be honest, I doubt how many current material scientists can fully understand the tensor operations involved."

After saying that, he prepared to stand up again.

He hadn't had time to eat either last night or this morning, and had only a few bites of toast and coffee. He was now extremely hungry.

"Yes, that's true if you look at this one alone." Pilz didn't notice the other party's embarrassment and continued, "But the key point is the latter. There are two new results that emerged in the past 24 hours."

It was only then that Mahachi noticed that the folder was much thicker than he had imagined.

He skipped the first paper and turned to the back.

It is also a paper.

Also from the first author named Fei Sun.

But the title at the top caught his eyes like a bolt of lightning.

"Four-dimensional imaging technology of transmission electron microscopy superimposed with three-dimensional atom probe".

The entire article has not yet been typeset, and is obviously not yet officially published.

The publishing journal is Journal of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (JCAS), and the online publication date was yesterday.

"JCAS?" Mahachi muttered subconsciously.

He knew that this comprehensive Chinese journal had made its mark in fields such as engineering computing in recent years, but had not yet established any authority in the field of high-end characterization technology.

However, the combination of the key words "transmission electron microscope superimposed three-dimensional atomic probe" and "four-dimensional imaging" instantly caught all his nerves.

He quickly pulled his reading glasses out of a drawer and put them on, then leaned forward, almost touching the paper, and quickly scanned the abstract and introduction.

Seeing that the other party had taken it seriously, Pilz continued to add: "This paper particularly emphasizes that their method can directly obtain the three-dimensional spatial structure and achieve accurate superposition with atomic composition information."

Coincidentally, Mahachi also saw this part in the highlight.

"Directly obtain the three-dimensional space structure?!" Mahachi raised his head suddenly, his eyes widened behind the lenses.

As a top expert in the industry, he knows all too well the weight of this statement.

The existing TEM three-dimensional reconstruction technology mainly relies on electron tomography. Its essence is to shoot the two-dimensional projection of the sample at different tilt angles, and then use the Fourier slice theorem to perform mathematical reconstruction.

In essence, this is still an indirect deduction process, which is not only time-consuming and labor-intensive, but also plagued by problems such as missing wedge angles.

The lost information can result in reduced resolution and even artifacts that cannot be removed.

"Directly obtaining three-dimensional information" means avoiding these fatal defects from the source...

He quickly flipped through the core methods and results sections of the paper, his heart beating violently.

"It turns out that the title is not just for show..." Mahachi muttered to himself, and was basically certain that the other party was not a clickbait who would do anything to catch people's attention.

“Using TEM images as the spatial reference system, the local distortion of APT reconstruction is corrected… the two technologies are accurately integrated in the same coordinate system…”

"The structural information from TEM plus the atomic-level composition and position information from APT... this really satisfies the basic principle of four-dimensional (space + composition) imaging..."

"..."

After some analysis, he suddenly raised his head and said, "Sonia, immediately! Right now! Call everyone in the Frontier Technology Department to a meeting!"

……

Twenty minutes later, in the conference room of FEI's Advanced Technology Department.

The long conference table was filled with the field's top engineers and scientists.

Mahachi sat in the first seat, and on the projection screen behind him was the core schematic diagram of the two papers.

"I'm sorry to interrupt your lunch, but this matter is indeed of great importance." Mahachi's voice was a little hoarse with excitement.

"We found two very interesting and significant results," Sophia Pilz pointed a laser pointer at the screen and began to introduce.

"The first article solved the core distortion problem of TEM 3D reconstruction..."

"..."

Soon, the content on the screen switched to the second article.

"Using the high-resolution two-dimensional structural images obtained by TEM as 'spatial maps', and using the advanced algorithms they developed, they can correct the inevitable distortion caused by APT in the process of three-dimensional atomic position reconstruction. Ultimately, the single-atom composition information provided by APT can be accurately pinned to the three-dimensional spatial structure revealed by TEM, thus achieving four-dimensional correlation imaging of spatial structure + atomic composition..."

"..."

There was a low sound of exclamation and discussion in the conference room. However, as Mahachi had just guessed, most modern materials scientists cannot fully understand the mathematics involved.

Especially in such a short time.

A senior R&D manager frowned and asked:

"Sir, this does sound wonderful, and it may make sense in theory, but... is it really reliable in practice?"

Most papers, even those of high quality, cannot be directly transformed into applications.

Mahachi placed his hands on the table, leaned forward, and spoke with persuasiveness in his voice:

"The core parts of these two papers are a three-dimensional distortion removal algorithm and a multi-dimensional accuracy normalization algorithm. I haven't had time to verify the specific content from the most rigorous academic perspective, but I am more than 95% confident that they are feasible."

He has a high reputation within FEI, which is enough to support such a judgment.

The rest of the people looked at each other in surprise at first, and then showed expressions of surprise one after another.

An engineer spoke first:

"If we can be the first to launch such an integrated device, even if the absolute accuracy of each technology is slightly sacrificed due to the coexistence of the two technologies, the ability to directly see where the atoms are located in the lattice in three-dimensional space and what elements are next to them... This ability will be an irresistible temptation for materials scientists and biostructuralists!"

He looked around the room, and his tone became extremely inflammatory:

"Perhaps... we can use this opportunity to suppress high-end market competitors such as JEOL, Hitachi and Delong... If we bundle some consumables, services and software... we may even be able to establish a new industry standard."

This promising description instantly ignited the atmosphere in the conference room, and the doubts on people's faces were quickly replaced by excitement and greed.

A happy atmosphere filled the air, as if orders were already pouring in and competitors were looking dejected.

"Great!" The supervisor who asked the question first slapped the table excitedly, "As long as the algorithm is feasible, we can definitely solve the engineering problem! Sample preparation is nothing more than an upgrade of focused ion beam and micro-nano manipulation technology, and field of view matching can design special sample rods and positioning systems..."

"That's right!"

"Must take it!"

Voices of approval rang out one after another.

However, just as everyone was ready to fight, Sophia Pilz, who had been sitting quietly next to Mahachi, spoke coldly, like a basin of ice water poured on the flames that had just been ignited:

"I'm afraid the actual situation will disappoint you greatly."

The heated discussion came to an abrupt halt.

Everyone looked at her in confusion.

"Disappointed? Why?" the excited manager asked puzzledly, "The algorithm is a public academic achievement. We use it to develop products. At most, we specifically mark the contribution made by the other party. What's the problem with this?"

Instead of answering directly, Pierce operated the computer and switched the projection to a new screen.

The screen clearly displayed the first pages of three electronic documents, with the eye-catching China Patent Office logo and patent application number printed on them.

"Just one day before the JCAS paper was published online," Pierce's voice was clear and calm, "a number of related patents of China Torch Group have passed the substantive examination stage and entered the final procedure before the authorization announcement...including the three most core items."

She used a laser pointer to point at three documents in turn:

"First, a universal sample preparation method for TEM/APT. The core is to use FIB etching with specific parameters and in-situ micro-nano manipulation probes to 'carve' nano-needle tips that meet the APT analysis requirements in the target area of ​​the film observed by TEM."

"Second, a sampling nano-tip structure design that unifies the field of view of the penetration test. This special geometric shape of the tip ensures that the field of view area observed by TEM and the tip top area for subsequent APT field evaporation are highly overlapped or accurately corresponded in space."

"Third, a four-degree-of-freedom nanomanipulation platform under a transmission electron microscope and its positioning method. It integrates laser positioning and image recognition algorithms to ensure that after TEM observation, the sample needle tip of the same micro-area can be sent to the APT analysis position with high precision and in situ..."

"..."