Thermo Fisher Scientific Releases Enhanced Software Features and Showcases CyberReady Capabilities for K-Alpha XPS

Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., the world leader in serving science, today announced the release of new software features that enhance data quality and acquisition speed for multi-spectrum data handling. New software features enhance the CyberReady capabilities of the award-winning K-Alpha X-Ray Photoelectron Spectrometer (XPS).

The K-Alpha is the first XPS instrument designed with full automation in mind, allowing users to conduct routine XPS analysis in-house. The revolutionary K-Alpha is the first XPS instrument engineered for total remote operation, allowing full operation of the system from anywhere in the world via the AVANTAGETM Data System. Thermo Fisher will showcase the new software features and CyberReady capabilities at the Thermo Scientific booth #713 at the AVS 55th International Symposium 2008, October 20-23 in Boston.

The Thermo Scientific K-Alpha requires no manual interaction once the samples are loaded into the instrument. Using a remote desktop, users can view real-time analysis and they have full instrument control as if they were in the lab. Internal calibration standards allow the instrument to be calibrated at the press of a button, ensuring optimum performance at all times. Intuitive sample navigation tools for feature identification and alignment assist novice users with the acquisition of high quality XPS data from a range of samples. K-Alpha’s recipe mode of operation can fully automate analysis for a wide range of applications including polymers, coatings, semiconductors, pharmaceuticals or general surface engineering problems.

Analytical laboratory managers will find that the Thermo Scientific K-Alpha is an exceptional solution for high-throughput, routine, low-cost sample analysis. Intuitive workflows allow operators to quickly master high quality XPS data acquisition, interpretation and reporting. New software features include advanced spectral and image deconvolution routines, improved peak fitting operations and advanced ARXPS acquisition and processing tools. These features further enhance data quality, acquisition speed, information content and allow for more intuitive control of large multi-spectrum data sets.

“With a price/performance ratio that is the best in the market and routines that allow for operation by non-experts, laboratories that traditionally outsource this type of analysis can now bring XPS technology in-house to improve their processes,” explains Richard G. White, surface analysis marketing manager, Thermo Fisher Scientific. “As a CyberReady instrument, the K-Alpha offers the ability for users in multiple global locations to actively participate in the analysis, allowing for a profound increase in efficiency, collaboration opportunities and cost effectiveness.”

The robust design is suitable for both academic and industrial multi-user environments. Auto-calibration and a full parameter audit trail makes K-Alpha the ideal solution for surface control and quality assurance applications. Featuring a compact instrument footprint, the K-Alpha saves valuable laboratory space while the instrument’s low cost of ownership makes it more attainable than other XPS instruments available on the market.

In 2007, the Thermo Scientific K-Alpha was named by R&D Magazine as one of the top 100 most technologically significant products introduced into the marketplace in the previous year.