SCANNING ELECTRON MICROSCOPE

Scanning Electron Microscope :

 it is a type of electron microscope-uses of
electrons to illuminate a specimen and create
an enlarged image.
• Depth resolution 10-100nm
• Lateral resolution 1-10 nm
• Magnification 10-500000x
SCANNING ELECTRON MICROSCOPE
INVENTED BY
Max Knoll
Scanning Electron Microscope
• Principal of SEM
The signals used by a scanning electron microscope
to produce an image result from interactions of the
electron beam with atoms at various depth within .
the sample various types of signals are produced
 Secondary electrons
• backscattered electrons
• Emitted X rays (photons)
are collected and surface of the specimen imaged in
3d and black and white Electron gun: electron gun
contains tungsten filament 1-30kv accelerating
voltage is applied to produce the electron beam
Anode: Is positively charged and attracts the
negatively charged electrons and ultimately
this anode will accelarate the velocity of the
electrons.
• Electron beam is controlled by anode
condenser lenses and objective lens ;and
lenses these are electromagnetic lenses
• Electron beam is controlled by anode
condenser lenses and objective lens ;and
lenses these are electromagnetic lenses
Condenser lenses:
These lenses will focus the electron
beam two wards the objective lens objective
lens :this lens will again focus the electron
beam towards the sample /specimen.
Sample preparation:
• Cleaning
• Dry
• Dehydration (acctone,alcohal)
• Fixation
• This microscopes cannot be used to image
living cells
• Detection in SEM:
There are three types of detection is possible in SEM
Secondary electron (SE ) Detection: secondary
electrons are most abundant in the case SEM and
detected by suitable detector.
Everhart thornley or ET detector is most commonly
used detector for detection of secondary electrons in
SEM.ET detector contains biased grid which is
positively charged to attract the secondary electrons
secondary electrons.
Secondary electrons detected by ET detector will
produce the basic image of SEM
• Backscattered electrons:

Energy of back scattered electrons are

higher than secondary electrons so ET
detector of varying voltage can differentiate
between them.
• X-ray detector:

Inside the sample holder x-ray detector is

placed and it will detect the X-rays emitted by
the sample .this detection process is known as
EDX or energy dispersive x-ray analysis.
• Applications of SEM:

For investigation of virus structure 3D tissue

imaging Industries including microelectronics
medical devices food processing all use SEM
as away to examine the surface composition
of component and product.
Advantages:
 Powerful magnification
 high quality and resolution
 provide information on samples surface and
its composition.
Disadvantage:

 Large and very expensive

 laborious sample preparation

 operation and analysis requires special training

 image of black and white they cannot display

living specimens in natural colours

 requires special maintenance