The JEOL 840A Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) is used for low to medium magnification studies of a variety of specimens; from failure analysis to micro-compositional analysis. Samples of all shapes, sizes and types can be examined using the SEM and it the most heavily used microscope in the Facility.

Some facts about the SEM:

• Variable accelerating voltage: 200 to 40,000V
• Variable probe current: 1 x 10^-8 to 1 x 10^-12 Amps
• Maximum sample size of 6 in any one dimension
• Working distances: 8 to 48 mm
• Sample rotation: 360°
• Sample tilting: 90°
• Variable magnification: 10x to 300,000x
• Maximum resolution: 10 nm
• Secondary and Backscattered Electron detectors
• Equipped with EDS capable of detecting Carbon and forming X-ray maps of composition; composition to within 0.1 wt%
• Integrated digital imaging system
  • Noise reduction through frame averaging
  • Image capture and export in electronic form (TIFF..1 MB), storage on floppy (one image per) or removable Syquest disk (270 MB)
• Low cost (FREE), medium quality thermal printouts
• High quality, medium cost Polaroid type 55 film containing both negative and positive