Frequently Asked Questions - Blade

What is the Blade?

The Voxa Blade™ ultra-high-throughput imaging pipeline is a customizable system providing complete industrial automation and scaling of electron microscopy platforms. Blade transforms nanoscale electron-optical imaging from a manual tool producing exquisite but limited quantities of data to a rapid and effective process for charting the full nanoscale detail of our world. It has the diagnostic power of EM with the speed of cloud computing.

Blade is a family of components that retrofit onto existing TEM platforms, and enable automation of sample handling and positioning, imaging, and remote control.  At the core of the Blade system is automated TEM sample delivery, which makes it possible for the first time in history to fully automate the majority of operations of an electron microscope and enable fully remote and effectively unattended round-the-clock operation.

What is the price?

Blade pricing depends on configuration.  Please inquire as to configuration and pricing.

Is Blade compatible with my microscope?

Blade has compatibility with a number of different TEM platforms from the major makers.  Please inquire about whether your microscope is compatible.  We are able to also supply complete systems including microscope for your application, new or remanufactured.

What is the processing throughput of the Blade?

Blade can deliver up to 500 samples per hour for automated TEM imaging, and delivers data at a rate of >300 megapixels per second.  Blade systems have produced some of the largest datasets in history, with some customers regularly producing datasets as large as 2 petabytes in size in weeks.

Sample batch sizes can be as small as 16 samples and as large as 5500.  Blade systems are scalable across parallel fleets and fleet management and scheduling capabilities, as well as high speed / high capacity high performance computing (HPC) storage solutions, and real-time processing.

What are the applications for the Blade?

• General ultra high-throughput TEM biology or materials characterization

• Conveyer belt / reel-to-reel automated sample delivery

• Automated microscopy, data handling and delivery, and telemetry/monitoring

• Serial tissue section imaging / 3D volume reconstruction

• Combinatorial chemistry and materials screening research

• QC/QA of nanoparticle or nano-structures production
  

What is the lead time for the Blade?

For the base configuration, Blade can be delivered within 4-6 months of purchase order.