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My EM experience is decades old and not cryo, so I have a question. In the old days we had to vapor deposit gold onto the sample because EM didn't work unless
by dreamcompiler 3y ago
My EM experience is decades old and not cryo, so I have a question.
In the old days we had to vapor deposit gold onto the sample because EM didn't work unless the sample was conductive. Is this still a thing?
- COGlory 3y agoAre you thinking of scanning electron microscopes? Those will give you surface topology - the electrons don't pass through the sample, but instead backscatter. Platinum and gold are commonly sputtered on top to help with the conductivity. With Cryo-EM, it's a transmission electron microscope. So the sample is frozen into a very thin (~30ish nm if you're lucky) sheet of vitreous ice, and then shot with electrons. The electrons pass all the way through the ice and the sample, and you get a projection image of whatever was in that ice.
- dreamcompiler 3y agoGot it. Yes, my experience was with SEM. Thanks.