The EML staff will perform SEM sample preparation, critical point drying, and SEM imaging for your project.
Basic protocol for the SEM Preparation as follows:
https://em-lab.berkeley.edu/EML/sem-protocol
Critical Point Drying with:
The Tousimis AutoSamdri 931 CDP is a critical point drying machine for biological sample preparation is used in dehydration of specimens by exchange of ethanol with liquid carbon dioxide. Large chamber design can accommodate many samples in one run.
Sputter Coating with:
The Safematic CCU-10 Sputter Coater is an easy to use machine with a touchscreen interface which can coat Au/Pd 60/40 at layers as thin as 1 nm.
SEM options include:
The Zeiss Crossbeam 550 FIB-SEM is our swiss-army knife FIB-SEM; perfect for high-resolution SEM imaging.
and
The Hitachi TM-4000 tabletop SEM is perfect most powders and low conductivity samples, as well as, plastic products, food products, and environmental specimens. The TM-4000 tabletop microscope is a low-vacuum SEM with a thermal electron gun that retains the key strengths of their predecessors in the TM1000 series while boasting smaller instrument footprints and improved ease of use, making SEM observations easy even for users who have never before worked with an electron microscope.
