Sep. 14, 2006 — FEI Co. of Hillsboro, Ore., and Malvern Instruments Ltd. of Malvern, UK, announced they have entered into a joint development and marketing program for advanced nanoparticle analysis utilizing Malvern’s particle image analysis software on FEI’s line of Quanta scanning electron microscopes (SEMs).

The companies say the combination delivers a powerful particle analysis solution that extends current analysis technologies for nano-sized particles.

Under the agreement Malvern’s particle image analysis software will be optimized for FEI’s Quanta SEMs. The software package is already used on Malvern systems that encompass traditional optical microscopes, such as the Morphologi G2, with many research and industrial users around the world.

The systems provide rapid data on particle size and morphology and yield distribution profiles for quality control and manufacturing applications. Rationalizing batch to batch variation of materials, identifying crystal polymorphisms and the identification of foreign bodies are just some of the current applications.

“As the size of materials used in product development and manufacturing continues to move from the microscale into the nanoscale there is an increasing need for characterization tools that move beyond the limits of light microscopy,” said Matt Harris, FEI’s vice president of worldwide marketing and business development, in a prepared statement. “This combination of FEI and Malvern technologies provides a powerful process and quality control tool for a growing number of nano-enabled products that are moving into production.”

Malvern’s business development director, Duncan Roberts, said that the joint venture with FEI represents the first time that Malvern software has been applied to another company’s instrumentation.

The bundled solution will be released later this year. It will be actively promoted to current and potential customers of both FEI and Malvern Instruments.