scanning electron microscopy Insights

What is scanning electron microscopy?

Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) is a type of electron microscopy that produces images of a sample by scanning the surface with a focused beam of electrons. The electrons interact with atoms in the sample, producing various signals that contain information about the surface topography and composition of the sample. SEM is commonly used for characterizing materials at high magnifications, analyzing surface features, and determining the elemental composition of samples. It finds applications in diverse fields such as materials science, biology, and forensics.

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What other technologies are related to scanning electron microscopy?

scanning electron microscopy Competitor Technologies

transmission electron microscopy

TEM is another type of electron microscopy that provides high-resolution imaging but requires samples to be thin and is based on transmitted electrons, thus can be considered a competitor to SEM.

mentioned alongside scanning electron microscopy in 33% (238) of relevant job posts

atomic force microscopy

AFM is another microscopy technique that provides surface imaging at the nanoscale, offering similar capabilities to SEM but based on different principles (mechanical probing). It can also operate in different environments.

mentioned alongside scanning electron microscopy in 22% (157) of relevant job posts

optical microscopy

Optical microscopy provides lower magnification imaging compared to SEM. While less powerful, it is much cheaper and easier to use, making it a viable alternative in many applications.

mentioned alongside scanning electron microscopy in 11% (228) of relevant job posts

scanning electron microscopy Complementary Technologies

X-ray diffraction

XRD provides information on the crystallographic structure and composition of materials, complementing the surface morphology information obtained by SEM.

mentioned alongside scanning electron microscopy in 20% (356) of relevant job posts

energy dispersive spectroscopy

EDS is a chemical microanalysis technique often integrated with SEM to determine the elemental composition of a sample, thus being strongly complementary.

mentioned alongside scanning electron microscopy in 59% (84) of relevant job posts

energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy

This is the same as energy dispersive spectroscopy, thus is complementary as it is used to determine the elemental composition of a sample in conjunction with SEM.

mentioned alongside scanning electron microscopy in 55% (66) of relevant job posts