Cameca

Cameca is a French manufacturer of measuring instruments, especially of secondary ion mass spectrometry and microprobe.

History

The company was founded in 1929 as a department of Compagnie Générale de telegraphy Sans Fil ( CSF) for the production of film projectors. After the Second World War, the Cameca began under the leadership of Maurice Ponte with the production of scientific instruments from French universities. From 1958 to micro probes were prepared, since 1968 also secondary ion mass spectrometers.

From the early 50s on was produced in Courbevoie.

The name Compagnie des Applications Mécaniques et Electroniques au cinéma et à l' Atomistique ( Cameca ) led the company in 1954. Business with film projectors ended with a brief interruption by the Scopitone, in the 1960s. From 1977, with the development of IMS3F, the Cameca was with the secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS ) is practically a monopoly. The business with the microprobe, however, she had to share with Japanese competitors ( JEOL ). In the late 1990s the Cameca won a third pillar with the tomographic atom probe.

1987 Cameca left the Thomson - CSF group through a management buy -out. In 2001 the company was sold to a financial investor and later landed at the Carlyle Group, which then sold the company in 2010 on the Ametek.

Applications

Especially in the geochemistry of Cameca devices are common.