Company History
FEI is the world leader in electron optics and focused ion beam technologies. Our market-leading solutions deliver precision imaging for three-dimensional characterization, analysis and modification of materials and structures with resolution down to the sub-Ångström level. But we're far more than the proven technology innovator.
Since our founding in 1971, FEI has persistently advanced its core technologies. The result is a unique, unsurpassed technology base that provides users withgroundbreaking results. Through a partnership with the former Philips Electron Optics division – a part of FEI since 1997 – we pioneered the world’s first DualBeam™ system , incorporating both a scanning electron column and a focused ion beam. Introduced nearly ten years before any competing system, the DualBeam was a development that changed forever how researchers would work. We are still the only company with both ion beam and electron beam solutions in-house, allowing us to develop more functionally-integrated solutions for our customers. Our heritage also includes industry-leading innovations in transmission electron microscopes (TEMs). Following the acquisition of Philips Electron Optics, FEI pioneered the Tecnai™ TEM . As the world’s first fully integrated TEM, it provided new levels of productivity and ease-of-use. The Titan™, released in 2006, demonstrates how FEI continuously raises the technology performance bar. With its sub-Ångström resolution, the Titan™ is the most powerful system of its type on the commercial market, and has resulted in a family of instruments, including the Titan ETEM and the Titan Krios™, both capable of delivering groundbreaking results in research and life sciences. And with the launch of the Magellan™ XHR SEM, FEI has extended its technology leadership to scanning electron microscopy, delivering sub-nanometer resolution at very low beam energies, helping to breaking new ground in research and electronics.
The timeline below demonstrates some of the major milestones within FEI Company history:
| 1949 |
First production Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM) system released.
|
| 1966 |
Solid-State 5 Ångström TEM delivered. |
| 1977 |
High-Resolution Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) introduced. |
| 1986 |
Computerized CM TEM Series introduced. |
| 1989 |
World’s first Environmental SEM introduced. |
| 1993 |
All-in-One Integrated Tecnai TEM. |
| 1998 |
World’s first DualBeam dedicated to automated defect analysis and metrology. |
| 2000 |
First small-stage DualBeam™ launched. |
| 2004 |
FEI TEM breaks the 1 Ångström barrier. |
| 2005 |
FEI’s all-new Titan™ S/TEM introduced with sub-Ångström resolution |
| 2006 |
First Department of Energy TEAM (Transmission Electron
Aberration-Corrected Microscope) project instruments shipped for 0.5
Ångström resolution. |
| 2008 |
FEI releases the Magellan XHR SEM, an extreme high-resolution scanning
electron microscope capable of sub-nanometer resolution at very low beam
energies. |