Global niche top manufacturing enabled by nanofabrication technology

Abstract

Synchrotron radiation facilities, which are compared to giant microscopes, are used for cutting-edge research in various fields because the characteristics of the emitted X-rays enable observations with extremely-high resolution that cannot be achieved with laboratory-scale analytical equipment. High-precision optical elements are indispensable to obtain this high resolution, and the author’s company is the only one that provides a stable supply of X-ray total-reflection mirrors with surfaces smoothed to a remarkable accuracy of less than 2 nm. This paper describes the existence of a unique nanofabrication technology behind this global niche top business, its successful practical application and commercialization, and introduces an example of an application development of the new technology.