Transmission Electron Microscope

Description

Please contact Newcastle University's Electron Microscopy Research Services to arrange bookings on this equipment, or to find out about services offered by the facility.

www.ncl.ac.uk/emrs

em.researchservices@ncl.ac.uk

Transmission electron microscope for visualisation of biological and material samples. Equipped with Optotronics Macrofire Monochrome CCD camera module.

Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) is a microscopy technique in which a beam of electrons is transmitted through an ultra-thin specimen, interacting with the specimen as it passes through. An image is formed from the interaction of the electrons transmitted through the specimen; the image is magnified and focused onto an imaging device.

TEMs are capable of imaging at a significantly higher resolution than light microscopes, owing to the small de Broglie wavelength of electrons. This enables the instrument's user to examine fine detail—even as small as a single column of atoms, which is thousands of times smaller than the smallest resolvable object in a light microscope.

At smaller magnifications TEM image contrast is due to absorption of electrons in the material, due to the thickness and composition of the material. At higher magnifications complex wave interactions modulate the intensity of the image, requiring expert analysis of observed images. Alternate modes of use allow for the TEM to observe modulations in chemical identity, crystal orientation, electronic structure and sample induced electron phase shift as well as the regular absorption based imaging.