DIRECT ELECTRON, L.P. — Department of Health and Human Services SBIR Phase I: 400

Description

PROJECT SUMMARY The Helium Ion Microscope has been developed over the last five years into a powerful tool for imaging a wide range of samples at sub nanometer resolutionIt offers unique features for biomedical research by virtue of its ability to imagewithout coatingsnon conductive specimens such as bio tissues and nano structures in cells at resolutions beyond those attainable by other techniquesThe goal of this Phase I proposal is to develop a high efficiency detector capable of energy discrimination for the Helium Ion Microscope that will add efficient elemental mapping capability to this already powerful techniqueThe proposed detectorbased on Direct Electron s proven sensor technologywill overcome sensitivityacquisition speedflexibilityand cost limitations of current spectrometersFrom the specific energy and spatial distribution of ions scattered in the microscopeit will be possible to determine both elemental structure and composition of the sample on the nanometer scaleThis innovation will provide a new imaging tool to study causes of human diseases such as kidney stone formationbone tissue degradation and regenerationnanoparticle toxicityblood vessel damage and agingand eventually we expect it to lead to new drug discoveries and treatmentIn the first phase of the project an existing Direct Electron CMOS sensor developed for high energy electronskeV toMeVwill be modified to provide the necessary detection efficiency and energy resolution for ionsThe modifications will include preparation of the sensor surface so that ions can interact and produce measurable signalsThe sensor will be operated in a newly designed camera and tested at the state of the art Helium Ion Microscope facility at Rutgers UniversityThe multi dimensional image data analysis process will also be further developed based on preliminary work done at DE and Rutgers PROJECT NARRATIVE This project is designed to deliver a new type of imaging detector to dramatically improve the efficiency of elemental analysis in the Helium Ion MicroscopeThe detector will provide a new imaging tool to study causes of human diseasessuch as kidney stone formationbone issue degradation and regenerationnanoparticle toxicityand blood vessel damage and agingand eventually it will lead to new drug discoveries and treatment