Scanning Microscopy of Thin Biological Specimens

Author(s):  
A. V. Crewe ◽  
J. Wall

We have recently improved our scanning electron microscope to a level that point resolution of 5 Å or so is possible. The electron current in the focused spot is about 10-10 amps so that good pictures can be obtained with a 10 sec exposure and the highest quality pictures can be obtained in 100 sec.The resolving power of this microscope is now comparable to that in a conventional transmission microscope for thin biological specimens and it is therefore of value to compare micrographs taken on the two types of instrument.

Author(s):  
C. T. Nightingale ◽  
S. E. Summers ◽  
T. P. Turnbull

The ease of operation of the scanning electron microscope has insured its wide application in medicine and industry. The micrographs are pictorial representations of surface topography obtained directly from the specimen. The need to replicate is eliminated. The great depth of field and the high resolving power provide far more information than light microscopy.


Author(s):  
Michael T. Postek

The term ultimate resolution or resolving power is the very best performance that can be obtained from a scanning electron microscope (SEM) given the optimum instrumental conditions and sample. However, as it relates to SEM users, the conventional definitions of this figure are ambiguous. The numbers quoted for the resolution of an instrument are not only theoretically derived, but are also verified through the direct measurement of images on micrographs. However, the samples commonly used for this purpose are specifically optimized for the measurement of instrument resolution and are most often not typical of the sample used in practical applications.SEM RESOLUTION. Some instruments resolve better than others either due to engineering design or other reasons. There is no definitively accurate definition of how to quantify instrument resolution and its measurement in the SEM.


2014 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 275-278
Author(s):  
Joanna Z. Kadłubowska ◽  
Ewa Kalinowska-Kucharska

Several year long investigations of the developmental cycle of <i>Microsphaera palczewskii</i> occurring on the leaves of <i>Caragana arborescens</i> in Central Poland are reported. The material was studied with light and scanning electron microscopes. The scanning microscopy micrographs of the clistothecia and appendages presented in this report are the first micrographs of this species.


Author(s):  
L. M. Welter

A scanning electron microscope using a field emission electron source and a single electromagnetic lens can produce a resolution of less than 180Å using an accelerating voltage of only 900v. High resolution, low voltage (0.1-2kV) scanning microscopy offers a number of advantages over the use of higher accelerating voltages. Specimen damage may be reduced because the power (P≃IV) which must be absorbed by the specimen for operation at a given probe current (I) is decreased in proportion to the reduction in accelerating voltage (V).


Author(s):  
H. Soezima

There are few investigations discussed on resolution of the signals as spatial resolving power, at the scanning electron microscope analysis. There remains misunderstanding that better resolution is obtained only by making a primary electron beam diameter small. At the scanning electron microscope analysis, there are such signals as secondary electron, back scattered electron, absorbed electron, transmitted electron, auger electron, cathode luminescence and X-rays. The spatial resolutions of these signals are effected not only by primary electron diameter but also by accelerating voltage, sample density, electro conductivity of the sample, surface condition of the sample, relative position among the primary electron optics, sample and detection system, energy of the signals, potential and magnetic distribution, and current density distribution of primary electron beam.Some examples of the X-rays, that have the poorest resolving power in the signals, are shown below.


1972 ◽  
Vol 50 (11) ◽  
pp. 2153-2156 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary E. Elliott ◽  
Michael Corlett

The tissue structure and the development of the apothecium of an inoperculate discomycete, Ciboria acerina, were studied using the light transmission microscope and the scanning electron microscope. Attention is drawn to each ascus, paraphysis, interwoven hypha, and cell tissue type more forcibly when viewed with the SEM; otherwise these methods complement each other.


1973 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 79-85 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Thibaut ◽  
M. Ansel

Three species of Siphomycetes: Rhizopus arhizus, Rhizopus equinus and Rhizopus nigricans, as well as a Septomycete: Emericella nidulans, have been examined by means of a scanning electron microscope. Among the difjerent Rhizopus, this technique showed differences in the appearance of the sporangia. In Emericella nidulans, scanning microscopy enábled one to ascertain that the "Hull cells" were completely hollow and also demonstrated the ornemented aspect of the ascospores.


Author(s):  
R. E. Ferrell ◽  
G. G. Paulson

The pore spaces in sandstones are the result of the original depositional fabric and the degree of post-depositional alteration that the rock has experienced. The largest pore volumes are present in coarse-grained, well-sorted materials with high sphericity. The chief mechanisms which alter the shape and size of the pores are precipitation of cementing agents and the dissolution of soluble components. Each process may operate alone or in combination with the other, or there may be several generations of cementation and solution.The scanning electron microscope has ‘been used in this study to reveal the morphology of the pore spaces in a variety of moderate porosity, orthoquartzites.


Author(s):  
K. Shibatomi ◽  
T. Yamanoto ◽  
H. Koike

In the observation of a thick specimen by means of a transmission electron microscope, the intensity of electrons passing through the objective lens aperture is greatly reduced. So that the image is almost invisible. In addition to this fact, it have been reported that a chromatic aberration causes the deterioration of the image contrast rather than that of the resolution. The scanning electron microscope is, however, capable of electrically amplifying the signal of the decreasing intensity, and also free from a chromatic aberration so that the deterioration of the image contrast due to the aberration can be prevented. The electrical improvement of the image quality can be carried out by using the fascionating features of the SEM, that is, the amplification of a weak in-put signal forming the image and the descriminating action of the heigh level signal of the background. This paper reports some of the experimental results about the thickness dependence of the observability and quality of the image in the case of the transmission SEM.


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