The history of electron microscopy at Carl Zeiss started with the pioneers in this field. It is worth mentioning that Ernst Abbe, who discovered the scientific construction of light microscopes, already mentioned future microscopes with greater resolving power as early as 1876. Nowadays, the company’s extensive know-how, accumulated over six decades, includes e-beam, ion-beam and transmission electron technology.
Milestones in the Carl Zeiss EM history are:
1846 Carl Zeiss founded by Carl Zeiss
1876 Ernst Abbe mentioned future microscopes
1931 Beginning of TEM development by AEG
1942 Cooperation for electron microscopy started by AEG and Carl Zeiss
1949 Commercial TEM launched EM7 with electrostatic lenses
1954 Change of ownership to 100% Carl Zeiss in Oberkochen
1961 TEM EM 9 launched, with electromagnetic lenses
1975 Cooperation with SEMCO for development of SEMs (NovaSCAN)
1985 Digital SEM, DSM 950 launched 100% ZEISS development
1990 TEM EM910 with Koehler illimunation launched
1992 Energy filtering TEM launched
1993 GEMINI FESEM launched | 1
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1881 Cambridge Instruments founded by Horatio Darwin
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1962 Beginning of SEM development at Cambridge Instruments
1965 SEM Stereoscan1 launched
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1990 Leica formed through merger of Cambridge Instruments and Wild Leitz |
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1995 Founding of LEO Electron Microscopy 50/50 Cooperation between Carl Zeiss and Leica
2001 Variable Pressure FESEM launched
2001 Change of ownership to 100% Carl Zeiss SMT AG
2002 CrossBeam launched; combined FIB/ FESEM system
2003 200kV FE EFTEM launched
2004 LEO fully integrated in Carl Zeiss SMT as the Nano Technology Systems Division
2004 CrossBeam EsB launched with dual In-lens electron detectors (SE + BSE)
2005 New record milestone in TEM resolution: > 0.08nm 200 kV TEM with Cs corrector and monochromator.
2006 Strategic Alliance with SIINT resulting in XVision and NVision products
2007 He-Ion based Microscope based on ALIS technology
2007 FE-SEM with unique charge compensation called ULTRAplus |
 The History of Carl Zeiss |