axibuilder

We design the electron-optical columns inside our scanning electron microscopes — the lenses, apertures, and pole pieces that focus the beam onto the specimen.

Getting a geometry from an idea to a simulated field used to mean hand-editing config files by hand. axibuilder is the tool we built to do it in the browser: draw and parametrize each element as an (r, z) cross-section, compose a whole column on one axis, and export it straight into our FEMM simulation pipeline.

It’s an internal tool, shared here for the team.

What’s inside

• A parts library — candidate geometries for every element: condensers, three objective topologies (axial-gap, radial-gap, conical immersion), boosters, biased stages, apertures — each parametric and editable.
• Live (r, z) editing — fillets, dimensions, snapping, and a revolved half-profile preview, down to the emitter apex three orders of magnitude in.
• Full-column composition — the whole instrument on one global axis, from the Schottky gun down to the specimen.
• Exports that simulate — Python, CadQuery (STEP), JSON and SVG, with geometry verified vertex-for-vertex against the FEMM builder.