By NATE DOUGHERTY
Rochester Business Journal
January 21, 2009
    SiMPore Inc., a company commercializing nanotechnology invented at the University of Rochester, has developed a microscope slide that significantly improves high-resolution imaging of nanoscale materials such as proteins, viruses and carbon nanotubes.
    The slides, known in electron microscopy as windows, are made of a proprietary silicon membrane so thin that it is invisible edge-on, company officials said. The thinness of the windows—less than 50 atoms thick—reduces background interference and improves contrast in images generated with transmission electron microscopes, making individual biological molecules like proteins or viruses easier to analyze, officials said. 
    “These new TEM windows are extremely thin for atomic scale imaging and feature characteristics unique in this market,” said Christopher Striemer, vice president of membrane development at SiMPore. The firm manufactures porous and nonporous varieties, both of which company officials said offer advantages over conventional windows.
    Compared to widely used carbon windows, SiMPore’s nonporous windows are more consistently thin, overcoming variations in a window’s thickness that would otherwise introduce additional background noise into images, company officials said.
    Unlike conventional TEM windows, SiMPore’s have a pure silicon composition—meaning that they can be subjected to intense plasma cleaning to remove contaminants, which further improves image quality.
    “The ability to vigorously clean these new TEM windows with standard plasma cleaning tools will help researchers examine nanostructures at higher resolution without problematic contaminants,” Striemer said.
    In the future, SiMPore will explore how its nanomembrane technology can aid research in a number of areas, including culturing of stem cells.
    “We believe these TEM grids will help those at the forefront of nanotechnology continue to push into new frontiers,” Striemer said.