The scanning electron microscope (SEM) works by using a centered beam of superior-strength electrons to crank out a assortment of signals at the area of stable specimens. The indicators that derive from electron-sample interactions reveal details about the sample which includes external morphology (texture), chemical composition, and crystalline structure and orientation of elements generating up the sample. In most programs, data are collected more than a picked area of the surface of the sample, and a two-dimensional picture is created that shows spatial variations in these qualities.
Spots ranging from close to one cm to five microns in width can be imaged in a scanning mode applying typical SEM tactics (magnification ranging from 20X to roughly thirty,000X, spatial resolution of 50 to one hundred nm). The SEM is also capable of carrying out analyses of selected stage spots on the sample this technique is in particular beneficial in qualitatively or semi-quantitatively analyzing chemical compositions (employing EDS), crystalline construction, and crystal orientations (applying EBSD). The design and style and operate of the SEM is really comparable to the EPMA and significant overlap in abilities exists between the two instruments.
