Welcome to electron-microscopes.com, which is an information platform on scanning electron microscopy (SEM), supported by a number of European distributors of the Thermo Scientific Phenom scanning electron microscopes.
Best known as a powerful imaging technique, SEM can also be used for other applications such as measuring and analysing.
Materials
Find out what SEM has to offer for the characterization of your materials
Imaging with SEM
SEM, of course, remains the technique of choice for imaging at high magnifications. Today, through a specific combination of electron-optical components (such as a FEG field-emitting electron source), even desktop SEM models such as the Thermo Scientific Phenom Pharos achieve resolution better than 2 nm, which means magnifications above 1.000.000x.
Even at relatively low magnifications in the area where optical microscopy is usually used, SEM can offer a number of advantages. These include greater depth of field or higher contrast, for example by using a backscatter detector that generates signals based on differences in chemical composition of the material.
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Measuring with SEM
SEM is increasingly used as a tool for determining dimensions. This can range from determining particle size or particle shape distributions and the size of pores and fiber diameters in materials to measuring roughness parameters and dimensions of microstructures.
Click here to learn more about the different Phenom SEM software solutions for measuring
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Analyzing with SEM
Energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX or EDS) is a commonly used technique for today’s materials researchers. Combined with a SEM, an EDX detector can provide more information about a sample than a SEM alone. Single-point analysis can be used to determine specific contaminations in one position, while line-scan or surface-scan analyses can provide new insights into the composition of cross sections or the homogeneity and concentration of chemical elements in (micro) surfaces.
Click here to learn more about the different microscope models available for chemical analysis using EDX.
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About us
Electron-microscopes.com is an information platform on scanning electron microscopy (SEM), supported by a number of local European distributors of the Thermo Scientific Phenom electron microscope product lines. The site is intended as an introduction to the popular desktop electron microscopy technology that has been developed at lightning speed over the past decades and is used today in thousands of labs worldwide.
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