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edfas.org 49 ELECTRONIC DEVICE FAILURE ANALYSIS | VOLUME 23 NO. 1 as secondary ion mass spectroscopy, or image scanning microscopy (ISM), are easy to use, but offer a very limited resolution improvement, allowing to identify structures down to only half the size of the diffraction limit. A team from the QuantumOptics Lab at the University of Warsaw, in cooperation with researchers at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel, have introduced a new technique of super-resolution microscopy, called super-resolution optical fluctuation image scanning microscopy (SOFISM). In SOFISM, the naturally occurring fluctuations in emission intensity of fluorescent markers are used to further enhance the spatial resolution of an image scanning microscope. ISM, an emerging super- resolution method, has already been implemented in commercial products andproven valuable for the imaging community. Largely, since it achieves a modest improve- ment in lateral resolution (x2), with very few changes to the optical setup and without the common handicap of long exposure times. Thus, it enables a natural extension of the capabilities of a standard confocal microscope. ISM uses a confocal microscope in which a single detector is replaced with a detector array. In SOFISM correlations of intensities detected by multiple detectors are computed. Inprinciple, themeasurement of the n-thorder correlation can lead to a factor of 2n resolution improvement with respect to the diffraction limit. In practice, the resolution achievable for higher-order correlations is limited by the signal-to-noise ratio of the measurements. “SOFISM is a compromise between ease of use and resolution. We believe that our method will fill the niche between the complex, difficult-to-use techniques pro- viding very high resolution and the easy-to-use lower- resolution methods. SOFISM does not have a theoretical resolution limit, and in our article, we demonstrate results which are four times better than the diffraction limit. We also show that the SOFISMmethod has a high potential in the imaging of three-dimensional biological structures,” said Dr. Radek Lapkiewicz, from the University of Warsaw. Crucially, SOFISM is, in its technical aspects, highly accessible, as it only requires introducing a small modi- The Moldworx 300 mmwafer marking tool. fication to the widely used confocal microscope— replacing its photomultiplier tube with a single-photon avalanche diode (SPAD) array detector. In addition, it is necessary to slightly increase the measurement time and change the data processing procedure. “Until recently, SPAD array detectors were expensive and their specifications were not sufficient for correlation- based microscopy. This situation has recently changed. The new SPAD detectors introduced last year removed both the technological and price-related barriers. This makes us think that fluorescence microscopy tech- niques such as SOFISMmight, in a fewyears’ time, become widely used in the field of microscopic examination,” stressed Lapkiewicz. Formore information, visit quantumoptics.fuw.edu.pl . 300 MM SILICON WAFER MARKERS Moldworx has built a 300 mm silicon wafer marker, believed to be the only one in the world with the capabil- ity of marking wafers in frames. The system uses front opening universal pods (FOUPs) to help maintain the clean envi- ronment required in the wafer marking process. Wafers are retrieved individually from the FOUPS for lasermarking, engraving, and inspec- tion. The resulting data is recordedand thewafer returns to the proper slot in the FOUP, operat- ing much like how juke boxes handled records back in the 1950s. For more information, visit moldworx.com. Advertise in Electronic Device Failure Analysis magazine! For information about advertising in Electronic Device Failure Analysis: Kelly Johanns, Business Development Manager 440.318.4702, kelly.johanns@asminternational.org Current rate card may be viewed online at asminternational.org/mediakit.