Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM)

In cooperation with the Department of Mechanical Engineering, the Department of Earth and Planetary Science has recently purchased a fully digital Leo 430 SEM. The new SEM is available for general research and undergraduate teaching. The SEM operates under a standard Windows 3.11 OS and Pentium PC platform.

With the addition of a Peltier cooled charge coupled device (CCD) fiber optic camera in 1998, the new SEM is primarily being utilized for electron backscatter pattern (EBSP) and orientation imaging (OIM). Through a network dynamic data exchange (Net DDE) interface, the SEM column, beam and stage are controlled via an off-line high-end Pentium PC for totally automated operation.