Scanning Electron Microscopy
(SEM)
is a well suited tool for the examination
of surfaces, structures and crystal
orientation on a micrometer
or submicrometer scale. The lateral resolution is
about 10 nm
for conventional SEM and about 2 nm for Field Emission SEM.
SEM
micrographs show an extreme large depth of focus.
Energy-dispersive X-ray microanalyses (EDS) allow chemical analysis of microscopic volumes (1 micron diam.) for all elements with atomic number Z>4 at a detection limit of 0.1 weight%. The composition of the material is determined on a microscopic scale with relative accuracy of 1 - 3 % for elements with Z>9.
Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) is especially suitable for the imaging and structural studies of very small objects and particles, crystalline defects and very fine structures up to atomic resolution 0.2 nm and with minimum mass fraction 0.2 atom%, identification of crystalline phases by structure and composition and orientation analysis.
Electron Backscattered Diffraction Patterns (EBSP) allows the crystallografic orientation of single crystals in a bulk specimen to be characterized with spatial resolution 0.5µm.
X-ray mapping is used to image the spatial distribution of elements in the sample on micrometer scale.
CryoTEM offers the ability to image frozen tissue at liquid nitrogen temperatures.