Turkish nanotech firm sells microscope to NASA

ISTANBUL - Anadolu Agency

Nanomanyetik, a Turkish nanotechnology company, has begun selling a powerful microscope to U.S. space agency NASA, the company’s general director has told state-run Anadolu Agency. 

Ahmet Oral, who also teaches physics at Middle East Technical University, said Nanomanyetik has developed a microscope that can map surfaces on nanometric and atomic levels, and can scrutinize extremely small particles.

The microscope is highly functional and is used in a wide range of fields such as physics, chemistry, material sciences and industrial engineering. 

The company’s customers are mostly international firms and scientific research institutions. Besides NASA, the firm also exports to Brazil, Chile, France, Iran, Israel, Italy, Japan, Poland, South Korea and Spain. 

The product appeals to foreign customers mostly because of its higher quality and cheaper price, compared with its competitors.  

The microscope was developed as part of a project supported by the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBİTAK) in the early 1990s.

“There are almost 30 firms doing the same work. Some 10 of these companies are active and we are one of them. Our aim is to be in the top three,” Oral said, noting that Nanomanyetik stands out because of its post-sale services.

Samsung is one of the company’s customers. “Where does Samsung use this product? There are pixels in smartphones’ displays. These pixels are getting smaller each year. Now the smallest pixel is 15x10 microns. They are figuring inner parts of pixels so that these pixels can operate much better. These patterns are on a nanometer level. They are using these microscopes to see the results of their works,” he said.

Nanomanyetik’s microscopes produce good quality and high resolution images and have the capacity to see an object’s atoms and individual DNA fibers.