The Founders

Advanced Microscopy Techniques (AMT) was begun in 1991 as a sole proprietorship by James Mancuso, Ph.D. Mancuso's career began at Westinghouse's R&D Center and Combustion Engineering where he worked in materials characterization and developed image processing algorithms for semi-conductor inspection and quantitative materials analysis. Later at ElectroScan he patented the first environmental secondary electron detector and designed ElectroScan's prototype ESEM. Then at JEOL USA he developed electron optics, electron and ion detectors, SEM metrology systems and motion control modules.

For AMT's initial product Mancuso adapted Lee Peachy's (U of Penn) concept of using high-speed machine-vision CCDs at the TEM's "35 mm port" to build the first high-definition, wide-angle camera system. This system had the additional benefit of being affordable and reliable at a time when "slow scan" cameras were "high maintenance" and priced well outside the range of most users.
In 1992 Leo Fama, who had extensive experience in electro-mechanical design and packaging of semi-conductor equipment and scientific instrumentation, joined AMT as a partner. Fama expanded the application of fast CCD cameras to virtually all existing TEMs. At the same time, he spearheaded the application of Deben UK's stage control products to semiconductor inspection in SEMs. He has also headed the sales and support of other Deben products for specimen cooling and SEM beam blanking.
In 1995, experienced TEM microscopist, Charles Bradley, Ph.D. joined to head application software and round out the development team. Bradley is a physicist who had held positions at Argonne National Laboratory in TEM and 4Pi as an applications software specialist, and he has been instrumental in integrating AMT cameras with TEM control systems and extending the application of CCD cameras. His goal is for the software to be a streamlined acquisition engine that is as efficient as possible, while also recognizing that image processing and acquisition are separate operations.

Company Milestones

1995 was a big year for AMT, as there were many important developments for the company.

• AMT incorporated and moved to its present site in Danvers, Massachusetts.
• AMT had received several federally funded small business grants (SBIRs) for EBSP detector and SEM measurement systems.
• AMT had developed both proprietary and patented phosphor technology.
• AMT introduced its first custom designed finite-conjugate lens for use in TEM cameras. This lens was the basis of the first low cost/high performance 4 megapixel camera available to clinicians.

1998: AMT developed its second finite-conjugate lens, the highly regarded A-lens, for the Advantage HR camera, which resulted in 3 times higher sensitivity, 2 times faster response, and also had significantly better image quality than previous models.

2000: AMT introduced the Advantage Plus, the first 4 megapixel side-mounted camera, again combining progressive scan CCDs with finite-conjugate optics. This was closely followed by the XR60 side-mounted camera featuring over 6 megapixels.

2001: AMT developed the C-lens and XR100 camera, which was a 7 megapixel "biological bottom mounted camera" with a very large image pick-up.

2005: AMT’s XR60 was extended to 10.5 megapixels.

2006: AMT adopted Kodak's line of 35 mm format CCDs, which have the best price/pixel ratio available. AMT also introduced the Zoom concept for TEM cameras, whereby the digital camera could be position optimally near the TEM's traditional plate film plane.

2007: AMT introduced its 16000 series of high speed 16 megapixel cameras. In addition AMT entered an ISV partnership with MicroSoft to integrate database capabilities directly into the camera acquisition software.