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SEM Standard Operating Procedure PDF
SEM Standard Operating Procedure PDF
SEM Standard Operating Procedure PDF
Place your samples on the aluminum holder stub using a double sticky carbon
tape
Insulating samples have to be located with either carbon or gold and electrically
grounded. Gold coating is much conductive, but not good for EDX analysis.
Also, use silver paint to electrically ground the sample. Conductive samples do
not need this process.
If you have many samples look alike, inscribe marks on the sample stub or
samples. It is very hard to recognize similar samples in the SEM.
Then, completely dry the sample in the drying oven at 60C for at least 3 hours
depending on the sample conditions. The rule of thumb is that it is better leave
them overnight in the drying oven.
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Make sure that the valves of the two nitrogen gas tanks are open. If theres not
enough nitrogen (less then 100 psi), please notify Jorge Morales (Electron
Microscope Centre Manager)
Press the Vent button located at the display panel of the Microscope table
After a click sound (it may take about 1 minute to fill up the chamber with
nitrogen), locate the lever on the bottom of the door and gently pull the lever up
and open the chamber door.
Move the sample mounting stage all the way down by pressing z-axis down arrow
key (located on the keyboard of the microscope control table)
Place the sample holder stubs into the mounting holes. Tall samples should be
located away from the left side of the chamber, where the secondary electron
detector exists. Using the yellow long screwdriver tighten the set screws for the
mounting holes. Double check whether the sample holders are well tightened.
Make sure nothing gets in the way to close the door. Gently, close the door and
then press the EVAC button.
Now you will hear the sound of rotary pump. Wait for about 2 minutes to see you
get the green light on the display.
Wait about 30-45 minutes to achieve high vacuum < 5 X 10-5 Pa
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saving the image, go to the annotation and select burn in all the annotation to
finalize the scale bar into the image. Save the image file as .jpg format.
In general, smaller spot size will give you lower contrast, grainy image, smaller depth of
focus, but better resolution in the acquired image.
For the magnification of 1000X and UP using medium spot size is recommended. Small
spot size can be used on the much higher magnification (10,000 X and up).
Put line to check the signal profile. If the profile shows sharp peaks and valleys, it means
that your focus is good. If those peaks and valleys are broad, then focus is not good.
For Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopic Analysis
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