Insturement that provides grayscale images of the surface of a sample by using a focused beam of electrons All kind of solid samples can be analyzed.



Solid samples can be observed with high magnifications. SEM goes up to 300 000x magnifications, but practical magnification is between 20-100 000x magnification.

Device has following detectors:

- EDS (Energy dispersive spcetroscopy)

• Gives elemental information from the sample. Detects elements based on the x-rays. Light elements are not reliably determined with this. Can be considered to be more qualitative analysis more than quantative analysis.

- SE (Secondary electron)

• Most common type of SEM detector. Provides information from the surface. Usually used for high resolution imaging.

- BSE (Back-scattering electron)

• Commonly used to obtain images with varying contrast. Contrast difference in the figure is due to the compositional difference in the sample (different elements, varying density).