This novel instrument gives performance far in excess of an ordinary optical microscope, requires no special sample preparation for hydrated, oily or non-conducting samples, and is easy to use
A new tabletop SEM, The Hitachi TM-1000 is now available from Lambda Advanced Technology.
This novel instrument gives a performance far in excess of an ordinary optical microscope, requires no special sample preparation for hydrated, oily or non-conducting samples, and is as easy to use as a digital camera.
With 10x improvement in resolution and magnification range as well as 100x improvement in depth of field compared to conventional optical microscopes, this new instrument produces high quality images and provides a real alternative to optical microscopes, stereo microscopes and confocal laser scanning microscopes.
It has applications in a host of sectors, including life science, food, cosmetics, healthcare, pharmaceutical, textiles, materials science, semiconductor and education.
The TM-1000 utilises scanning electron microscope (SEM) technology, greatly simplified for ease of use, yet providing remarkably powerful imaging capabilities.
Not only does it show surface morphology in stereoscopic detail, but the imaging detector can show contrast due to different average atomic number composition in the sample.
This allows different phases in materials to be highlighted, or heavy metal-labelled areas in a specimen to be located.
A built-in measurement function allows dimensional information to be acquired quickly and easily.
Minimal sample preparation is required for the Tabletop Microscope.
Samples up to 70mm in diameter can be examine with a specimen movement of 15mm in X and 18mm in Y.
For hydrated, oily or non-conducting samples, the microscope can simply be switched to 'charge-up reduction' mode, where it operates as a variable pressure, or environmental, SEM.
There is no need to coat with a conductive layer.
This compact instrument is equipped with autofocus, auto-brightness and auto-contrast functions to make image observation and recording extremely simple.
All images are recorded digitally on a computer for easy access.
The magnification range of 20 - 10,000x, with 2-4x digital zoom and 30nm resolution ensures images are of outstanding quality.
