Scanning Electron Microscope EM-30PLUS Operating Manual
47
2. Specimen Preparation Methods by Material
Preparation methods of specimen vary depending on the materials. Identify the specimen
properties and prepare the specimens referring to the following pretreatment processes.
1) Conductive Specimens like Metals
Cut the specimens with the following various methods.
When grinding, use low speed cutter, grinder, wrapper, and tripod
When making fracture surface, use liquid nitrogen or diamond pencil
When etching, use chemical and thermal etching method
When corrosion or oxidation occurs on specimen surface, carry out etching or polishing
(when removing contaminant on specimen surface, use Plasma Cleaner)
2) Nonconductive Specimens like Non- conductive/fiber/high molecular specimen
Nonconductive specimens should be coated with metals (gold, platinum) using ion coating
machine so that they might carry electricity.
Ion Coater equipment is mainly used for pretreatment process, which prevents charge-up
effect of nonconductive specimens and enhances the efficiency of secondary electron
generated on specimens.
3) Biologic Specimens
The pretreatment for biologic specimens is very important as it can be deformed during
natural dry. Moreover, as they are subject to thermal damage during specimen observation,
setting acceleration voltage low can reduce the deformation or damage of specimens.
4) Semiconductor Specimens
For semiconductor specimens, chemical etching is used depending on their observation
areas. It is necessary to find out the optimum pretreatment method by comparing images
before and after etching.
5) Powder- type Specimens
Generally, when you mount powder type specimen on Stub, it is important to fix it not to
scatter
Big sized powder specimens over tens of um,
① Adhere powder specimen to carbon tape, CU tape
② Compress it with polyethylene paper
③ Fix it with conductive adhesive
Or plant the powder specimen on Silver Paste
Small sized powder specimens over tens of nm
① Drop it on glass substrate or Si Wafer and then disperse it
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