Cryo Scanning Electron Microscopy, Cryo-SEM

Cryo SEM (Cryo Scanning Electron Microscopy) is a method to observe frozen state specimens containing water or fats, such as biological materials, foods, and cosmetics.
In ordinary SEM observation, the specimen shape can change because water and fats in the specimen evaporation during observation in a vacuum environment.
On the other hand in the cryo-SEM observation, the original shape of the specimen can be observed without shape change caused by freezing of the specimen.
The frozen specimen is sometimes subjected to frost removal, fracturing, etching, or conductive coating in the specimen preparation chamber before observation.
Cryo SEM is also used for preventing specimen damage by keeping the specimen at a low temperature, which is susceptible to thermal damage (e.g. polymers) by electron beam irradiation, like a polymer.

Related Term(s)