Working on a Transmission

Electron Microscope
A brief How-to-guide and
important tips

 Transmission Electron Microscopy(TEM) is a very useful

technique used for imaging very fine detailseven as small as
a single column of atoms, which is thousands of times smaller
than the smallest resolvable object in a light microscope.
TEM forms a major analysis method in a range of scientific
fields, in both physical and biological sciences. TEMs find
application in cancer research, virology, materials science as
well as pollution, nanotechnology, and semiconductor
research.
An electron beam is passed through a sample and the
transmitted electrons are projected on to a fluorescent screen
which is later converted to an image
Sample is suspended in a solution and drop casted on to a
copper mesh grid, allowed to air dry and then put in to a
microscope for analysis
Solid samples are crushed in to a fine powder and then gently
sprinkled on to the grid
A very fine tip forceps/tweezers is used to handle the copper
mesh grids
Copper grids are most commonly used as copper is a good
conductor of electricity