AFMWorkshop

AFMWorkshop is pleased to join as a sponsor in the 24th International Workshop on Inelastic Ion-Surface Collisions, in Charleston, South Carolina. This year's Workshop Chair is Chad Sosolik, Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Professor of Physics and Astronomy, Clemson University.

AFMWorkshop's Paul West will be speaking at the Workshop on Tuesday, and we'll have a table featuring our HR 2D AFM. We hope you'll stop by to say hello!

Have you heard about AFMWorkshop's new resource for Educators? The AFM Educator's Cookbook is a practical guide for who want to help prepare and visualize a wide variety of interesting samples. Instructions include where to purchase samples, how to prepare samples, and how to process the resulting AFM images. Download your copy by visiting https://www.afmworkshop.com/afmworkshop-stem-resources

While AFMWorkshop's HQ crew on Hilton Head Island, SC eagerly await the PGA's 55th Annual RBC Heritage Classic arrival, we warmed up with the First Annual Atomic Force Heritage Tourney. Wow - A beautiful day and a super challenging 18 holes! While a $20M purse eludes us, pizza and our local ale house helped pump up both winners and losers for the upcoming Mad Plaid arrival.

As excited as we are about University of South Carolina Women's Gamecocks advancing to the Sweet 16 (again!!) we're thrilled to think of the successes to come in the of Assistant Professor Iftikhar Ahmad. Dr. Ahmad just upgraded to an AFMWorkshop HR-AFM for his research on ultra-wide bandgap semiconductors, increasing the efficiency of UV-LEDs, and more. The spring blossoms at USC's Columbia campus were amazing - but so was the HR AFM 1 X 1 micron image of epitaxily grown AlN sample from Dr. Ahmad. The Z range on this image is .85 nanometers. Thanks for welcoming AFMWorkshop to your campus, and best of luck in your work ahead!

AFMWorkshop had a great time last month visiting and working in Paris, France with Lionel Sudrie and our colleagues from Quantum Design on the installation and training for an advanced research configuration TT-2 AFM at the University of Paris. Thank you to Caroline Laduree, Sabine Marie, Adeline Gand, Emmanuel Pauthe, and Credson Langueh. We look forward to your continuing success!

is pleased to announce the HR-2D , the first atomic force microscope designed specifically for and other low dimensional materials. With a small footprint of 7"X7" it fits easily in a small acoustic cabinet or in a glove box. The initial customer of the HR-2D at MIT published in Nature within one year of ownership.

With a noise floor of

Our congratulations to Peter Eaton, Ph.D. and the Bridge at the University of Lincoln for launching their first UK-based international training course! The course focused on AFM applications for industry, and was offered in person as well as online. Additional presenters included Ian Scowan Ph.D., Paul West Ph.D., and Jorge Caldeira, Ph.D. Thanks also to Rupert Smith, Ph.D., Director of Scanwel Ltd. for his assistance and support. AFMWorkshop looks forward to the grand opening of Lincoln's beautiful new Bridge facility, and to the continuing success of the the students from both industry and academia. Lincoln is a fascinating and friendly town, we hope to see you there at an AFM event in the future!

We are happy to have helped researchers in the Photon Lab at MIT successfully publish a paper on 2-D materials in Nature. They have been using our specially designed HR-AFM & custom made Glovebox to further their in finding evidence for a single-layer van der Waals multiferroic. We wish them continued success on their journey.

Ever wonder what an can do for you and your business? The Bridge is offering an introductory delivered by an expert in the field, and includes a free technical consultation and access to expertise. The course is available in-person or via Teams. To sign up visit https://www.thebridge-lincoln.org/2022/04/08/the-bridges-inaugural-atomic-force-microscopy-training-course/

We are pleased to announce the completion of the installation of an LS AFM-B at the InterAmerican University in Barranquitas,
Puerto Rico. Shown in this picture are the that will use the , led by Dr. Prachi Tripathi. Included with this installation is the heated liquid cell recently developed by AFMWorkshop.

If you have ever speculated on the correct procedure required to calibrate your in order to get accurate measurements of 2D materials, we've got you covered. In this we have outlined (in step-by-step format), all of the the proper procedures required to perform a successful AFM calibration so you can continue imaging your 2D samples with the best possible results.

Read the full technical note:
https://www.afmworkshop.com/newsletter/356-afm-calibration-for-2d-materials

Sangil Kim from the University of Illinois at Chicago took this great image of the surface of a commercially available phase inversion cellulose acetate membrane taken with our TT-2 AFM. Thank you for sharing this image with us.

5. Retirement?

At my age, one of the standard topics of conversation is answering the question "when do you plan to retire?" My answer is always the same, "Why would I retire if I can keep working and doing a job that I love." This being said, as the owner of an instrument company, I have a lot of freedom to take time off when I want to. My wife and I take full advantage of this freedom and we've spent a lot of time sailing our sailboat in Mexico and Central America... starting and owning a scientific instrument company has its advantages.

Our sailboat anchored off Isla Isabella, the Galapagos Island of Mexico. Isla Isabella is one of the few places you can visit with blue footed bo***es. With an ENMARSAT internet modem it is possible to keep up with our atomic force microscope company, even in remote locations.

4. No need for large capital to start an SI company

Starting a scientific instrument company can accomplished for a fraction of the cost of technology companies. Often instruments with commercial value are developed for research projects by graduate students. Starting a new company is as simple as finding a few customer with interest in buying the same product. As with all new ventures, once you have a few satisfied customers, finding more customers always becomes a little easier. Many instrument companies are from infancy to ongoing operations with little to no startup capital.

3. Products have long life cycles

The demand for scientific instruments, although not large, is very stable. Each specific type of instrument has the same core technologies for several generations. For example, the operating principles of NMR instruments, Electron Microscopes and Mass Spectrometer products are essentially the same now as they were 50 years ago. The sensitivity continues to increase, and the number of applications of each type of instrument is always expanding which in turn creates stable demand. Because the instruments have long life cycles, careers in the SI segment tend to be very secure.

2. Customers are interesting

Customers purchasing are working on challenging projects, and often rely on vendors for advanced support. In professors need state of the art instruments for research projects, and technology companies need scientific instruments for creating and manufacturing new products. Over the past 10 or 20 years educators have been adopting a curriculum requiring scientific instruments, which gives their students an advantage with acceptance to schools and getting high paying jobs. Working directly with the customer to help them achieve their goals is a very rewarding experience, experiences I will not soon forget.

Over the past 30 years I've worked in the scientific instrument business, initially in the formation of the Atomic Force Microscope(AFM) industry, and now making efforts to expand the markets by offering affordable to the , industrial and education markets. I started out in product development, moved to marketing and sales, and now I am the general manager of AFMWorkshop. Here are a few lessons I've learned and observations I've made.

Working in the scientific instrument industry is often overlooked by young professionals starting their careers. This is because in comparison to other industries, the scientific instrument business is relatively small. As an example, one of the largest instrument companies, Thermo-Fisher, had an annual revenue of $32 billion in 2020, a small company in comparison to giant tech companies like google, amazon, and apple that have revenues of $100 to $300 billion. Most scientific instrument companies have revenues of less than 0.1 billion, employ less than 1000 people, and serve niche markets. In my next few posts I'm going to attempt to convince you why that isn't such a bad thing.

1. Jobs are interesting

Jobs in small companies tend not to be compartmentalized. That is, if you work in one department, you can often take on projects associated with other company functions. For example, if you work in product development, you will have the to help with marketing projects. This give employees the opportunity to migrate into new job functions.

There are often opportunities for domestic and international travel in small instrument companies. Although small, SI companies often serve global markets. Often times technical staff travel to help with trade shows, product installations, and to evaluate new product opportunities.

With STEM gaining popularity in many young students' curriculum these days, we want to emphasize the need to include in this model to give it real STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Mathematics). Encompassing a full-bodied learning approach encourages both innovation and problem solving. Creating high impact microscopy images requires some creative artistic skills, like the skill of selecting the optimal color palette.

An outstanding feature of the Atomic Force Microscope is that it can directly create images of nanoparticles with dimensions between 0.5 nm and 50+ nm.

To know more, visit our website: https://bit.ly/33in57H

AFMWorkshop's built-in nanoparticle analysis software makes nanoparticle characterization fast and easy.

To know more, visit our website: https://bit.ly/32l8s4j

AFMWorkshop's innovative microscopes offer a balance between an affordable price and the rigorous performance required by many nanotechnology researchers

To learn, visit our website: https://bit.ly/3hlpGmk

What happens when a broadway music conductor and director tries to use an for the first time... Magic! When -19 hit New York and shut down broadway it prompted Kimberly Grigsby on a COVID-safe road trip that led her straight to AFMWorkshop's doorstep. Read the full article on how Kimberly has set out to collaborate with us to create a new AFM curriculum to introduce promising young students to the joys of using these microscopes.
https://www.afmworkshop.com/newsletter/352-microscopes-music

With its open design, the TT-2 is ideal for colleges and universities that teach students about AFM design, applications, and operation.

For more information, visit: https://bit.ly/3hk30mE

An outstanding feature of the Atomic Force Microscope is that it can directly create images of nanoparticles with dimensions between 0.5 nm and 50+ nm. Nanoparticle size distributions are directly calculated from AFM images.

To learn, visit our website: https://bit.ly/32MuNa0

TT-2 AFM software was developed in Lab VIEW, making it easy for customers with a Lab VIEW user license to customize their software. Additionally, National Instrument Data Acquisition Cards can be integrated into the TT-2 AFM to create a customized experiment.
To know more, visit our website: https://bit.ly/34YevgP

Atomic Force Microscopes are essential for process development and control applications in advanced technology industries including data storage, semiconductor, advanced material, polymer, and photonics.

To know more, visit our website: https://bit.ly/2Z1x148

Atomic force microscopes are capable of making measurements on biological samples at the nanoscale that are difficult or even impossible with any other type of microscope.

To learn, visit our website: https://bit.ly/2QRGZk6

Our instruments are robust and can be used in single-user as well as multi-user laboratories.

For more information, visit: https://bit.ly/32Qm4Uh

Atomic Force Microscopes from AFMWorkshop come highly recommended by a diverse array of scientists, educators, and engineers. Excellent training and transparent pricing complement AFMWorkshop's robust instrumentation.

To learn, visit our website: https://bit.ly/3hdCdZT

We design atomic force microscopes from the ground-up, intending to create an AFM that would be both useful for demanding nanotechnology research and affordable.

To know more, visit our website: https://bit.ly/3j3t0Ut

AFMWorkshop has a top-rate customer service program. If you have a problem with your instrument, we have a process of troubleshooting with you.

To know more, visit our website: https://bit.ly/3j3t0Ut

Atomic force microscopes are designed and manufactured with high-performance and a low-price, creating an opportunity for more accessible AFM use.

To learn, visit our website: https://bit.ly/2YmphJA

International Day of Women and Girls in Science!!

If our AFMs can't run your application, we will refund the full purchase price! Additionally, our AFMs are now backed by a two-year, return-to-factory warranty.

For more information, visit: https://bit.ly/31ev99Q

At AFMWorkshop, we offer in-house workshops as well as on-site training to each of our customers, to ensure that they are fully prepared to operate their AFM successfully. We also offer tutorials on our website explaining the basic function of an atomic force microscope, as well as videos and webinars for further education.

To know more, visit our website: https://bit.ly/33Cn1S0

AFMWorkshop is confident that our atomic force microscope will be able to run your application, and we guarantee it. You tell us what you’re trying to achieve with the application of an AFM and we will make sure you can do it, or we’ll refund the full purchase price of your AFM.

To learn, visit our website: https://bit.ly/2C72hql

Our newest model, the B-AFM, is useful for routine scanning and educational purposes. You can also buy an AFM platform, and add the necessary modes and features based on your budget and needs.
For more information, visit: https://bit.ly/30y8AN0

Learning how an atomic force microscope works is an essential part of proper AFM training. AFMWorkshop provides a series of animations that illuminate key operating principles and efficiently introduce new users to Atomic Force Microscopes.

To know more, visit our website: https://bit.ly/33Cn1S0