JEOL Ltd. and Seiko Instruments Inc. agree to the overseas sales cooperation of Focused Ion Beam/Scan Ion Microscopes

JEOL Ltd. (President: Yoshiyasu Harada, hereinafter referred to as JEOL), which is the largest manufacturer of the electron microscopes and Seiko Instruments Inc. (COO: Akio Irie, hereinafter referred to as SII) that has good reputation in the focused ion beam/scan ion microscopes, have agreed to cooperate regarding the overseas sales of SII made “SMI series”.

In order to cater to the demand for high accuracy and high-speed preparation of test samples that accompanies the increase in demand of the electron microscopes as the evaluation tool in the field of Nano-technology, JEOL has started marketing in the overseas of SII made, focused ion beam/scan ion microscopes “SMI-2050/2200/2300”. On the other hand, SII is considering the present overseas sales as an opportunity to assure a further increase in its share in the overseas market of focused ion beam/scan ion microscopes.

Following the agreement of the latest sales cooperatopn, JEOL will utilize the rich overseas network of the JEOL group and start the sales, delivery and services of the “SMI reries” in the American market and plan to future expand towards the European market.
The SMI2000 series is a new generation compact size FIB (*1) device which provides the answers to multipurpose requirements such as high resolution observations, processing, various sample preparations of numerous materials such as semi-conductors.

The “SMI 2050” is an equipment for the TEM/SEM sample preparation, while “SMI-2200/2300” is an equipment for 200mm/300mm wafer cross-sectional (cross-section sample) analysis. The sales price for “SMI-2050” is 80 million Yen and that for “SMI-2200/2300” is 110~280 million Yen. Approximately 20 sets are expected to be sold in the first year.

(*1) FIB: Focused Ion Beam By utilizing Ga(gallium) ion beam, it can convert the specified cross-section of the sample having a complicated structure into a thin layer, and can be used to quickly prepare the observation samples for transmission electron microscopes and scanning electron microscopes.

[Company profile]
JEOL Ltd.

Address: 1-2, Musashino 3-chome Akishima, Tokyo 196-8558, Japan
TEL: 042-543-1111
Established in: May, 1949
Capital: 4.174 billion Yen
President & COO: Yoshiyasu Harada
Business areas: Production, sales and development of high-class precision scientific equipment, industrial equipment and medical equipment, as well as processing consignment of the accessory products and parts, maintenance / services and purchase and sales of peripheral equipment.
Number of employees: 1,138

Seiko Instruments Inc.
Address: 8, Nakase 1-chome, Mihama-Ku, Chiba-shi, Chiba 261-8507, Japan
TEL: 043-211-1111
Established in: September, 1937
Capital:1 billion Yen
President & COO: Akio Irie
Business areas: Manufacturing of watches as well as development, production and sales of electronic parts, analysis measurement equipment and IT related equipment
Number of employees: 4,600


Contact Information
Press Contact
Seiko Instruments Inc.
Corporate Strategy
Corporate Communications Dept.
Fukuda
Fax:043-211-8011

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