A new microscope developed by the TEAM Project (Transmission Electron Aberration-corrected Microscope), supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, has recorded the highest-resolution images ever seen (0.05 nanometer and below). This is equivalent to a quarter of the diameter of a carbon atom. This microscope will be delivered to the Berkeley National Laboratory in 2008 and will be fully operational in 2009. To achieve this resolution, this microscope mixes two technologies, SEM (Scanning Electron Microscope) and TEM (Transmission Electron Microscope). Such a microscope will allow to ’study how atoms combine to form materials, how materials grow and how they respond to a variety of external factors.’

Links: ZDNet, Primidi