The NT-MDT company prepared the new Corporate Brochure devoted to Scanning Probe Microscopes

NT-MDT: Customer, Technology, Integrity

Our primary goal is customer success in exploring the nanoworld with our innovative microscopes. We combine our strong motivation, fundamental knowledge, multi-year experience, hard-working ethics, and full integrity to make this possible.

The NT-MDT Way

Over the last 25 years, NT-MDT has been involved in the development, production, and support of research instrumentation, primarily, scanning probe microscopes for nanotechnology and its applications. Our pathway has been marked by a creation of a few thousand different devices, whose functions and capabilities cover the broad range of customer needs in different areas: university education, academic and industrial research. NT-MDT pioneering efforts led to the impressive combination of scanning probe microscopy with Raman spectroscopy.

The fundamental knowledge and continued thirst for innovation of our team members stems from being educated at the highly regarded Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT) and other top schools. This has created a solid background for advanced company activities. Strong NT-MDT/MIPT ties throughout many years provide the influx of young and motivated intellectuals to our company, which has proven invaluable to our progress.

This is one of many important factors that make the company successful. The others include strong team integrity and personal accountability in all segments of our company from creative design work, to the precise engineering and manufacturing, the quality control, and at all levels. The excellence of our microscopes has been proven in numerous applications many of which were developed and demonstrated by NT-MDT scientists, who strive to expand the SPM capabilities for comprehensive and quantitative analysis of material surfaces and properties down to the molecular and atomic scales.

Unique NT-MDT SPM Features

We are now proud to provide NT-MDT microscopes with the most advanced features, which include but not limited to the following:

An expanded set of resonance oscillatory AFM modes: -  Amplitude modulation with Phase Imaging    The surface profile and probe phase changes are detected and mapped    while the probe frequency and amplitude are fixed.
-  Amplitude modulation with Frequency Imaging           The surface profile and probe frequency are detected and mapped           while the probe amplitude and phase are fixed.
-  Frequency modulation           The surface profile and probe amplitude are detected and mapped           while the probe frequency shift and phase are fixed.
A non-resonant oscillatory HybriD mode allowing direct and fast force detection for quantitative and high-resolution mapping of local sample properties
A suite of AFM-based electric modes that includes single and double pass techniques for measuring surface potential and capacitance gradients and unique thermoelectric imaging
The exceptional low-noise and low thermal drift enclosure for stable imaging for a variety of applications
An open architecture software with multiple ways for controlling and monitoring the electronic signals during experiments starting with soft probe engagement
Computer simulation tools for theoretical evaluations of tip-sample interactions and their manifestation in most experimental AFM modes

Nano – Effective Solution for Education and Research
		SPM heads for novice and expert users Apprentice toolkit Flexible choice of probes Compact design and affordable cost NT-MDT Nano is a robust, small footprint SPM with a wide range of features:     - Educational head for STM & AFM intermittent contact mode by user made tips.     - Student toolkit to etch probes.     - Research head for most common AFM modes with commercially available tips.     - Routine imaging of nanoscale structures.

C60H122 alkane on HOPG

Block copolymer

Microporous membrane Celgard

Nitrocellulose membrane

NTEGRA Prima - Flexible  Device for Routine and Advanced Applications
		Open architecture Tip/sample scanners Wide range of configurations/heads Broad temperature range NTEGRA Prima – an Open-Architecture Modular Device for Advanced Research:     - Environmental and high-temperature measurements     - Specialized measurements with external magnetic fields     - Combination with Near-Field Optical Microscopy and Raman Spectroscopy     - Scanning in liquids with temperature control and flow-through capabilities     - Flexible scanning geometries and ranges

Polymer blend P3HT/PCBM		Metallic alloy Bi/Sn

NEXT – Prime Automated Microscope

• Easy to use microscope with advanced capabilities
• Automated head exchange
• Automated laser/photodetector alignment
• Superscan and stitching capabilities

NEXT is a unique system that provides researchers with outstanding performance and a wide range of capabilities. Specifically, it removes gap between optics and SPM by offering the users surface imaging from mm range down to the atomic scale.  The exceptional functioning and automation of the alignment routines of this microscope make it the best candidate for high throughput studies in multi-user environments. 

Thermal Cabinet for NT-MDT Microscopes

• Unique solution for high-performance microscope environment
• Exceptional temperature stability
• Low-thermal drift medium
• Excellent acoustic and vibrational isolation

This new fan-free enclosure provides NT-MDT microscopes the capability to operate at conditions of extraordinary temperature stability within 5 millidegree  ˚C.
This guarantees the exceptionally low thermal drift of less than 0.2 nm/min. The cabinet also protects the positioned microscope from external acoustic and vibrational noises with passive and active means of damping. 

NTEGRA Spectra – Enables AFM/Optics Synergy

• Co-localized AFM and optical measurements
• Near-field Optical Microscopy (SNOM/NSOM)
• Tip Enhanced Raman Scattering (TERS)
• With NT-MDT, Thermo Scientific, Renishaw and other spectrometers
• Focus track for optical measurements

NTEGRA Spectra is an integrated solution for simultaneous AFM and Confocal Raman, Fluorescence, SNOM, TERS measurements. The instrument supports multiple AFM/Optics geometries enabling studies both in air and liquid. Comprehensive characterization of materials is achieved in combined mapping of chemically specific Raman bands and local mechanical and electrical properties. Raman mapping with nanometer resolution can be obtained by means of TERS. Similar resolution can be achieved for studies of plasmonic materials.

AFM/Optics Configurations for Illumination/Collection

• Upright (a)
• Inverted (b)
• Full transmission (“4-Pi”) (c)
• Side-Illumination (d)
• SNOM: Optical fibers (e) and “smart” probes (f)

The open-design of NTEGRA Spectra facilitates a broad spectrum of AFM/Optics applications for characterization of local chemical content, dielectric and plasmonic features in complex samples of various origins. They include polymers, carbon-based compounds, bio-materials, semiconductors etc. Spatial resolution of such measurements has approached the nanometer scale.

PX Controller – the Core for High-Quality & Advanced SPM

• Built-in 5 lock-in amplifiers
• Detection channel up to 5 MHz
• Modular design
• Support all NT-MDT microscopes

Our powerful PX digital controller incorporates a low-noise high voltage generator (< 1 mV/600 V), five lock-in amplifiers and sensitive detection electronics (up to 5 MHz) enabling measurements with negligible deflection noise (~25 fm/√Hz).  The latter helps to make imaging in the atomic-scale as the routine procedure. The controller features provide a microscope user with a large spectrum of imaging and in single- and multi-frequency operations, which tremendously expand the research capabilities for visualization of surface structures and local quantitative studies of materials’ properties down to the nanoscale.

Hybrid Controller – the True Gateway to New SPM Generation

• Fast signal detection and FPGA processing
• PLL and multiple digital broadband lock-in amplifiers
• Full synergy with Px controller

Recently, NT-MDT microscopes were enhanced by the new Hybrid controller, which expands their instrumental and application capabilities by employing a high-speed (20 MHz) data acquisition and fast real-time data processing with FPGA at 80 MHz. New modes and applications are emerging with quantitative nanomechanical analysis in Hybrid mode being already routinely applied for elastic modulus mapping with 10-nm resolution. The expanded set of the oscillatory modes and other newly developed features (e.g. thermoelectric measurements) make the NT-MDT user the most powerful researcher compared to the practitioners of other SPM devices.