SCANNING ELECTRON MICROSCOPY (english version)

(update March 01 st 2023)

Technical Managers

Scientist Officer

The scanning electron microscope (SEM) replaces optical microscopy to make images when this one is no longer able to make images of sufficient resolution. It is the device used by the largest number of researchers at IMN to obtain images of the materials they manufacture. These images can be made on areas enlarged up to 1,000,000 times with a resolution of about one nanometer. The SEM is also very useful for the peripheral techniques that can be attached to it such as energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) which provides information on the chemical elements present in the sample and their respective masses..

The instruments and the activity described in this page take part in the GIS "CIMEN" in progress. It can be discovered on the website : https://www.gis-cimen.fr/

Equipments

The IMN's scanning electron microscopy facility is built around four machines located on two sites, "Lombardie" and "Chantrerie".

- Site Lombarderie (UFR Sciences)

On the Science campus, the microscopes are located in the "Centre de Microcaractérisation" (CMC) building dedicated to scanning and transmission electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy (AFM).

Two instruments are available:

JEOL 7600F

A JEOL JSM 7600F scanning microscope dedicated to high resolution imaging made available by its Shottky field emission gun and its in-lens electrons detectors. It is also equipped with a BRUKER SDD energy dispersive spectrometer to qualify chemical elements and perform spectral mapping.

JEOL 5800LV A JEOL JSM 5800LV scanning microscope with integrated energy dispersive spectrometer SDD SAMx. This instrument is mainly dedicated to quantitative chemical analysis but also to any chemical analysis work (X-ray mapping, concentration profiles, semi-quantitative analysis) and to routine imaging. A specific detector acquires images in cathodoluminescence. This microscope is also able to work in " low vacuum " mode.

These two instruments are widely accessible to external users within the context of the "service commun de microscopie électronique à balayage" of the University of Nantes, which owns the instruments.

Three carbon, platinum and gold/palladium metal coaters complete this equipment as well as a critical point dryer. The service also uses the sample preparation possibilities offered by the TEM service ( embedding, polishing, microtomy...) and also has a JEOL Cross Section Polisher to perform ion polishing on samples.

JEOL Cross Section Polisher

- Site Chantrerie (Polytech'Nantes)

At Chantrerie, the microscopes are located in the ETMPA building, dedicated to research, and in the "ISITEM" building, dedicated to teaching, in the practicum corridor.

Two microscopes are available:

STEREOSCAN 440 • A Zeiss Leo 1450VP microscope (2003) provided with a tungsten filament gun and mainly used for routine images and analysis. It is built with a SE, BSE retractable detector and an 80 mm2 EDS spectrometer from Oxford Instrument. Its low vacuum pumping mode allows the observation of insulating samples without coating them as well as vacuum sensitive or hydrated samples.

MERLIN • A Zeiss Merlin microscope (2009) provided with a field emission gun used for precision analysis and high resolution images. It is provided with a SE and BSE detector in the chamber and a SE and BSE detector in the lens. It is equipped with a 50 mm2 Oxford EDS spectrometer, a WDS probe and an EBSD camera. It is also possible to mount a heated tensile stage for "in-situ" experiments.