Aspex Corporation, founded in 1992, is a supplier of

electron microscopy An electron microscope is a microscope that uses a beam of electrons as a source of illumination. It uses electron optics that are analogous to the glass lenses of an optical light microscope to control the electron beam, for instance focusing i ...

tools to researchers, developers and manufacturers working on

Process control Industrial process control (IPC) or simply process control is a system used in modern manufacturing which uses the principles of control theory and physical industrial control systems to monitor, control and optimize continuous Industrial processe ...

through automated

scanning electron microscope A scanning electron microscope (SEM) is a type of electron microscope that produces images of a sample by scanning the surface with a focused beam of electrons. The electrons interact with atoms in the sample, producing various signals that ...

and

energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS, EDX, EDXS or XEDS), sometimes called energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDXA or EDAX) or energy dispersive X-ray microanalysis (EDXMA), is an analytical technique used for the elemental analysis or chemi ...

. ASPEX specializes in the manufacturing integrated

and

electron microscope An electron microscope is a microscope that uses a beam of electrons as a source of illumination. It uses electron optics that are analogous to the glass lenses of an optical light microscope to control the electron beam, for instance focusing it ...

. The company develops automated

algorithms In mathematics and computer science, an algorithm () is a finite sequence of mathematically rigorous instructions, typically used to solve a class of specific problems or to perform a computation. Algorithms are used as specifications for per ...

for routine production monitoring and control. Aspex's microanalysis solutions are seen in a wide range of production environments, including critical cleanliness, microcontamination analysis, product purity, contamination diagnostics, predictive maintenance, and other statistical process control initiatives. Aspex instruments are typically more industrialized then standard SEM equipment. They can be typically found installed in non-traditional locations, like steel mills and automotive assembly lines. The most common usage revolves around automated feature analysis for particle characterization.

Market divisions

* Steel, which includes a broad range of

steel Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon that demonstrates improved mechanical properties compared to the pure form of iron. Due to steel's high Young's modulus, elastic modulus, Yield (engineering), yield strength, Fracture, fracture strength a ...

producers and universities interested improving the production process through

Non-metallic inclusions Non-metallic inclusions are chemical compounds and nonmetals that are present in steel and other alloys. They are the product of chemical reactions, physical effects, and contamination that occurs during the melting and pouring process. These inc ...

content control. * Pharmaceuticals, which includes developers and manufacturers of pharmaceutical products,

medical devices A medical device is any device intended to be used for medical purposes. Significant potential for hazards are inherent when using a device for medical purposes and thus medical devices must be proved safe and effective with reasonable assura ...

, and new drug delivery tools. * Forensics, which includes institutes, universities, crime labs conducting various

trace evidence Trace evidence occurs when objects make contact, and material is transferred. This type of evidence is usually not visible to the naked eye and requires specific tools and techniques to be located and obtained. Due to this, trace evidence is often ...

applications and gunshot residue analysis. * Military, which customized field deployable units to monitor jet engine wear debris and

predictive maintenance Predictive maintenance techniques are designed to help determine the condition of in-service equipment in order to estimate when maintenance should be performed. This approach claims more cost savings over routine or time-based preventive maint ...

on military aircraft. * Automotive, which includes automotive suppliers and producers interested in characterizing the

parts cleaning Parts cleaning is a step in various industrial processes, either as preparation for surface finishing or to safeguard delicate components. One such process, electroplating, is particularly sensitive to part cleanliness, as even thin layers of oil ...

practices and the critical cleanliness of components and assemblies.

Locations

Aspex Corporation maintains research and development and sales operations in Delmont,

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

History

The origins of Aspex Corporation date back to 1992 (formally a division of RJ Lee Group, Inc.) where developers recognized the limitations and costs associated with traditional scanning electron microscopy (SEM). As a result, the company developed and introduced the world's first "personalized" SEM, or PSEM. The timing of the introduction coincided with a number of important trends, including increased emphasis on materials characterization, the outsourcing of R&D applications to service laboratories, and the "quality revolution" of the 1990s. Since then, Aspex has continued to develop various industrialized SEMs for quality and process control purposes. As of January 9, 2012,

FEI Company FEI Company (Field Electron and Ion Company) was an American company that designed, manufactured, and supported microscope technology. Headquartered in Hillsboro, Oregon, FEI had over 2,800 employees and sales and service operations in more than ...

purchased Aspex from its privately held venture capitalists. After one year of operating under the name "ASPEX, an FEI Company", in 2013 the stand-alone entity of ASPEX was absorbed by FEI and the electron microscopes produced in the Delmont,

facility are now grouped with the FEI offerings. Although Aspex is not operating as a stand-alone business entity, the three product lines (Express, Explorer and, Extreme) are still available for purchase with their automated software. This enables the user to engage the SEM (with EDX, if equipped) to automatically scan an area of interest about a sample and collect particulate information. Such information includes: morphology, thumbnail image, chemistry (if EDX is equipped)

Competitors

* TESCAN * Carl Zeiss NTS GmbH * Phenom-World B.V. *

Hitachi () is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in 1910 and headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo. The company is active in various industries, including digital systems, power and renewable ener ...

JEOL is a major developer and manufacturer of electron microscopes and other scientific instruments, industrial equipment and medical equipment. Its headquarters are in Tokyo, Japan, with 25 domestic and foreign subsidiaries and associated companies ...

, Inc. * Semtech solutions, Inc.

References

{{Authority control Nanotechnology companies Privately held companies based in Pennsylvania Technology companies established in 1992 Technology companies disestablished in 2013 1992 establishments in Pennsylvania 2013 disestablishments in Pennsylvania 2012 mergers and acquisitions