Kabushiki Kaisha Daini Seikosha

Seiko Instruments & Electronics Ltd.

Nippon Steel Corporation

Seiko Instruments Inc

Hiroshi Ishijima

Toshiyuki Koga

Masatoshi Yasutake

Koichi Kitamura

Tomio Sasaki

Mitsuyoshi Sato

Chikara Miyata

Hiromu Soga

Jiro Kaneko

In a tunneling unit of a scanning tunneling microscope (STM), a rough feed mechanism for approaching a sample and a probe to a tunnel area is disposed separately (or is provided to a stage on a sample side, for example), a fine movement element block is formed as a separate unit and the tunnel unit main body is made compact and provided with high rigidity so that it can be mounted to an optical microscope or a laser microscope. If the fine movement element block of the tunnel unit is mounted to a revolver of an optical microscope or the like, rotation positioning accuracy of the revolver is a few microns. Therefore, high precision positioning of the position to be observed by STM can be attained by optical means and measurement having high resolution in an nm order can be conducted by use of STM. Since STM can be mounted to an existing apparatus in accordance with the present invention, measurement accuracy can be improved drastically and the invention is extremely useful industrially.

Scanning tunneling microscope

A flourescent x-ray device for irradiating x-rays to a sample so that flourescent x-rays emitted from the sample can be detected is described. A stationary fixed collecting plate is used instead of the movable reflecting plate employed in the prior art. The reflecting plate possesses the characteristics of being transmissive to x-rays and being reflective to visible light so that an image of the sample can be viewed by an observer and the sample can be irradiated with x-rays passing through the plate. The invention permits a remarkable decrease in manufacturing cost. Moreover, the device can be operated in a stable condition with high accuracy for a long time.

Fluorescent X-ray device

A fluorescent X-ray film thickness gauge has an X-ray source and a collimator for irradiating a sample with X-rays, and a detector for detecting fluorescent X-rays emitted by the sample. The detector has a cylindrical-shaped housing in which is formed a detector opening for receiving therethrough the fluorescent X-rays to be detected. The detector is rotatable or angularly displaceable about its longitudinal axis to adjust the position of the detector opening relative to the sample so as to effectively minimize variations in the intensity of the detected fluorescent X-rays due to variations in the distance between the sample and the detector.

Fluorescent X-ray film thickness gauge for very small areas

In a method for the measurement of the distribution of the inclusions in a slab by electron beam irradiation, an electron beam of relatively large diameter is irradiated onto a relatively large specimen of the slab and a spectrum analysis of the characteristic X-rays is effected by using planar analyzing crystals, in order to obtain the data of the two-dimensional distribution of the elements of the inclusions in the surface of the specimen.

Method for measurement of distribution of inclusions in a slab by

An X-ray generator has an X-ray tube for generating X rays which are detected by an X-ray detector for feedback control of the X-ray tube. The filament current of the X-ray tube is controlled in accordance with the deviation of the X-ray intensity for compensating for any deviation which occurs due to the X-ray tube deterioration or fluctuation of the air density of the X-ray path.

X-ray generator

Radiant rays irradiated from the source penetrate through an object in which inserts or the like are disposed at some distances. A radiant ray detector is provided at the opposite side of the object to the source to detect the radiant rays passed through and somewhat absorbed in the object. A slit or collimator is arranged movable along the object between the source and the detector. The output of the detector changes in accordance with the travel of the slit since the absorption coefficient of the inserts is different from that of the matrix. The output is displayed with a graphic display and further is operated into digital signals for computer input or indicating. The position signal of the slit is used for the display and for digital indicating.

Growing community of inventors

Tokyo, Japan

Hiroshi Ishijima