SEM
Scanning Electron Microscopy is used for imaging the surface of bulk specimens with a lateral resolution of up to circa 1nm with high depth-of-field.
Integrated energy-dispersive x-ray microanalysis systems, short EDX, allow chemical analyses with lateral sub-micrometer resolution for all elements with Z>4 and detection limits > 0.1 weight percent.
Electron Backscatter Diffraction, short EBSD, finally yields information about crystal structure and crystal orientation and can be used for examination of the microstructure, determination of phase contents, grain size distributions, deformation mechanisms or textures in the analyzed material.
Aplications:
- Determination of fracture types and fracture propagation
- Imaging of particle morphologies
- Measurement of particle sizes
- Detection of finest microstructure components
- Analysis of coating structures and composition
- Detection of impurities or material mix-up
- Diffusion profiles
- Collection of spectral element distribution maps
- Analysis of crystal orientation relations and micro-textures
- Measurement of grain size distributions
Special techniques:
- Simultaneous collection of up to four signals during one single scan
- Autmated panoramic imaging of large specimen areas
- Automated particle analysis for determination of statistical distributions of particle morphology and composition in areas of several mm2
- Analysis of non-conductive specimens
- High angular resolution / cross-correlation-EBSD after Wilkinson
- Electron Channeling Contrast Imaging
The following is an overview of the scanning electron microscopes available at GFE.
Field Emission Gun-SEM Zeiss Gemini SEM 300
built 2019
- Lateral resolution of up to 0.7nm
- Variable pressure, VP mode for the examination of non-conductive specimens
- Separate InLens detectors for secondary and backscattered electrons for high-resolution analyses at smallest working distances
- Zeiss SmartStitch software for the automated collection of large-area images
- EDX detector UltimMax 65 by Oxford Instruments
- High-resolution CMOS EBSD camera „Symmetry“ by Oxford Instruments
Field Emissions-SEM JSM 7000F
built 2006
- Lateral resolution of up to 1.2nm
- Schottky field emission gun with up to 450nA probe current
- EDX detector OctanePlus by Ametek-EDAX
- CCD EBSD camera „Hikari“ by Ametek-EDAX
FEG-SEM DSM 982 Gemini
built 1995
- SE InLens detector for high-resolution analyses at smallest working distances
- Si(Li) EDX detector