Re: Environmental SEMs: competitive resolution?

From: zach (victorthecleaner_at_gmail.com)
Date: 10/19/04 

Date: 19 Oct 2004 13:54:26 -0700

flipsu5@comcast.net (Fred Chen) wrote in message news:<2dd6d035.0410031655.39d8f50a@posting.google.com>...
> Do environmental (low vacuum) SEMs offer resolution that is
> competitive with conventional SEMs? They seem ideal for imaging
> insulating samples which cannot be coated with conducting material.

SEMs of which era? :^) There is a variety of "wet" or environmental
SEMs these days, Hitachi even offers a field-emission model. You can
probably get spec's from their website. I only took a real look at
them over ten years ago, an old ISI model that used BSEs for imaging,
and was pretty limited. These days, you can vary pressure (hence, more
correct to say, "variable pressure" SEMs) and signal detection. The
resolution is much better than it used to be.