The main products handled by the Beam Technology Systems Dept. are Hitachi High-Tech's transmission electron microscopes (TEM), scanning electron microscopes (SEM), focused ion beam processing and observation systems (FIB, FIB-SEM), photomask repair systems (MR), scanning probe microscopes (SPM, AFM), and nano 3D interference measurement systems (CSI). In addition, the department also has its own unique solution products aimed at improving the convenience of these products.
Analytical equipment had been delivered both domestically and internationally even before the company was founded in 1965, and it started as part of the scientific equipment service section.
In March 1970, it was the Electronic Equipment Section of the Instrument Department, and in March 1981, it was upgraded to the Electronic Equipment Department. In 2018, the name was changed to the Electron Microscope Department, and in April 2021, it was integrated with the Hitachi High-Tech Science BT Service Department, and became a two-part system with the Electron Microscope Department 1 handling products from the Naka District and the Electron Microscope Department 2 handling products from the Fuji-Oyama District. The following year, in 2022, the two departments were integrated to form the Beam Technology Systems Dept., which is still in operation today.
In addition, the new coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic that occurred in 2019 also had a significant impact on the Beam Technology Systems Dept. in terms of customer support, but we were able to gradually rectify the situation from 2021 onwards and minimize the impact on customer businesses.

In terms of domestic trends over the past 10 years, the semiconductor manufacturing industry has continued to grow, albeit with some fluctuations due to demand for memory and other factors, and demand for TEM, FE-SEM, and FIB-SEM has continued. In the automotive sector, demand for C-SEM and FE-SEM is increasing in research and manufacturing due to the increased demand for lithium-ion batteries (LiB) accompanying the rise in electric and hybrid vehicles.
Overseas, demand for analytical equipment in general is increasing in line with the rapid growth of the Chinese market.

Regarding product trends from 2014 onwards, in the case of transmission electron microscopes (TEMs), the mainstream has shifted from observing images on a fluorescent screen in a darkroom to digital operation in a brightly lit room using a high-definition screen camera. In 2017, the company launched the 120kV TEM HT7800 model, which provides a wide range of TEM analysis solutions. In the same year, the company also launched the HF5000 model transmission electron microscope (TEM/STEM), which inherited the high spatial resolution and tilting/analysis performance of the HF5000 model, and continues to provide these features to this day.
The scanning electron microscope (SEM) lineup includes desktop microscopes, general-purpose SEMs (C-SEMs), and FE-SEMs, and in 2017, the TM4000 series of desktop microscopes was released, which uses a new electronic optical system and has enhanced navigation functions for finding the field of view. In 2016, the FlexSEM1000 series of C-SEMs was released, the FlexSEM1000 series, which maintains the performance of previous models while being more compact than desktop microscopes, was released in 2016, and in 2019, the SU3800/3900 series, which has enhanced automation functions, supports analysis of large samples, and has functions such as wide-angle camera navigation using an in-chamber camera, was released.
While conventional cold cathode FE electron guns were the mainstream in FE-SEMs, the SU5000 series, which was released in 2014, increased sales by equipping FE-SEMs with Schottky-type electron guns, thereby enhancing analysis functions with high resolution and high irradiation current. Since then, the company has released the SU7000 in 2019 and the SU8600/8700 in 2021, with improvements in ultra-low acceleration observation capabilities, the addition of a variety of detectors and simultaneous display of images, and enhanced automation through the EM Flow Creator.

In the analysis of cutting-edge devices where the use of TEM and STEM is essential, FIB, which irradiates and processes samples with a focused ion beam, has become an essential device for high-precision processing and observation. As for Naka-area products, the last product to be released was the FB2200 in 2019, and the focus has shifted to Fuji-Oyama-area products. Accordingly, the main products sold are now FIB-SEMs, which can perform processing and high-resolution observation simultaneously, rather than single-beam FIBs.
In 2015, the NX2000 was launched for use in the evaluation and analysis of cutting-edge devices and high-performance nanomaterials, and the NX9000 for 3D structural analysis was also launched that same year. Since then, the NX5000 with a large sample chamber has been launched in 2018. In addition, new products are being introduced sequentially for photomask repair equipment, which is an FIB application device.

In 2016, AFM launched the AFM5500, which uses SPM technology developed over many years to enhance automation, reliability, and compatibility with SEM and CSI. In 2022, AFM launched the AFM100 series, which further improves reliability and performance and improves operability and throughput.
CSI released the VS1500 series, which has high vertical resolution using optical interference technology, in 2015, followed by the VS1300 in 2016 and the VS1800 in 2019.

In order to provide services that are closely tailored to the needs of customers, the company expanded its network of bases across the country, and by April 2014, 123 service engineers at 19 bases were providing services based on the concept of "the base is the starting point". In April of the same year, a coordinator group was established within the department with the aim of strengthening service proposals and expanding profits, and in 2017, an application group was established within the department to strengthen application support.
In April 2022, the Solution Promotion Group was established within the department to strengthen solution development and sales, and in October of the same year, the Global Service Group was established to strengthen overseas parts sales management, with the aim of further strengthening the system.

In 2021, the Hitachi High-Tech Science BT Service Department was integrated, and analysis equipment support began in a two-part system consisting of Electron Microscope Department 1 and Electron Microscope Department 2. By integrating the two departments in 2022, we will integrate the department management functions, technical support centers, parts sales functions, etc., promote the diversification of service engineers in both departments, and work towards the realization of unified services.

Since 2015, we have introduced a technical certification system to quantitatively assess engineers' skills and systematically improve their skills. In 2017, an electron microscope service training room was set up in the NK Building in the Naka District, and training equipment, including the latest models, was installed. Together with the equipment installed at the existing Tsukuba Technical Center, this is being used to provide training to improve the skills of not only our own engineers, but also those of engineers at our overseas subsidiaries and distributors. We are also promoting the development of multi-engineers with a global perspective, and are actively working to ensure that we can respond to high-end equipment overseas.

We believe that the services we provide are in a period of major change due to changes in the way we work since the outbreak of the new coronavirus (COVID-19) and the globalization of our customers.
We aim to realize our corporate vision of "Being the best partner to co-create the Next step" by providing truly uniform service quality at all of our locations nationwide, maintaining product quality, providing application support to help our customers achieve their goals, providing remote support to prevent product malfunctions and speed up recovery, training multi-engineers to keep up with product diversification, and training staff to a high technical level to support overseas customers.