In 1999 Thermo NORAN completed licensing agreements with NIST for the microcalorimeter x-ray spectrometer technology developed by Martinis, Irwin, Hilton and Wollman.Steady progress has been made to commercialize this technology.Briefly, the NIST microcalorimeter consists of a Transition Edge Sensor (TES) which measures the temperature rise in an absorber due to an incident photon. The sensor must be operated at temperatures below 100 milliKelvin, which is provided by an Adiabatic Demagnetization Refrigerator (ADR), coupled with a traditional liquid helium cryostat. Additional enabling technology includes a Superconducting Quantum Interference Device (SQUID) and a SQUID Array for device readout and low temperature signal amplification. All of this technology has been widely used in cryogenic research facilities for many years, but is not readily available for commercial purchase and use.Initial work focused on adapting the NIST design to a modern FESEM. The available ports in an FESEM required scaling the heat shields, and cold extension diameters by 68%.
