Tutorials

This article discusses a few key concepts of digital cameras, optics and associated software to illustrate scientific and economic differences between consumer and scientific digital cameras for scientists. Consumer digital cameras have gone from low resolution curiosities to very capable, high resolution, low-cost cameras. Depending on the intended use, consumer digital cameras could have a place in the scientific market.

This article discusses practical aspects of how to set up an SEM for EBIC, and how to perform EBIC experiments suitable for qualitative or quantitative analysis. Examples from light emitting diode and laser diode devices are shown. Additionally, references to important theoretical EBIC literature are presented for further information.

Spectral imaging in X-ray microanalysis is the collection of the total energy spectrum of a specimen at every pixel of a raster scan in a scanning electron microscope or transmission electron microscope. Energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometers are used to collect the spectra. From the spectral imaging data, X-ray distribution maps can be used to infer or directly measure the chemical distribution of elements...

Electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) is a powerful technique which allows crystallographic information to be obtained from samples in the scanning electron microscope (SEM). In EBSD a stationary electron beam strikes a tilted crystalline sample and the diffracted electrons form a pattern on a fluorescent screen...

Electron probe X-ray microanalysis techniques - energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) and wavelength-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (WDS) - use the characteristic X-rays generated from a sample bombarded with electrons to identify the elemental constituents comprising the sample...

Recently, focused ion-beam (FIB) milling has emerged as a relatively fast and versatile tool for preparing HRTEM specimens using in-situ or ex-situ FIB-milling procedures. In this tutorial, we describe a step-by-step approach for making such specimens. The limitations and their subsequent solutions by FIB milling are presented.

Recently, improved methods for quantitative immunocytochemistry using colloidal gold markers and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) have been formalised. This tutorial covers the methods for random sampling, stereological estimation and inferential statistics which underlie them.

We categorise alignments which affect the resolution of a TEM/STEM and describe a method for improving resolution using the electron Ronchigram. The effects of defocus and astigmatism on the Ronchigram are illustrated using a conventional tungsten source CM20 TEM, together with a ray diagram.

This article is an elementary tutorial in the main elements of beam alignment.

This paper describes the problems encountered and solutions found to the problem of developing an imaging technique that would produce a more detailed analysis of integrated circuit material structures than a scanning electron microscope.