Offline SEM Imaging

Once the grids have been prepared, they can be imaged within the offline SEM at cryogenic or room temperature. This is a useful step to ensure samples are well prepared, and that the concentration of crystals on the grid is optimal before taking them to the beamline.  This can also be a useful step to confirm whether microcrystals are present in solution.  With crystals smaller than a few microns it can be hard to confirm this under a normal optical microscope.

Examples of a range of crystals prepared with the Leica EM GP2 and imaged within the SEM.

An image of crystals prepared on a TEM grid on the I24 on-axis microscope on the beamline.  These are compared with the same area of the grid imaged with the SEM.