Nanoteket is a teaching laboratory for high school students and university students. In 2012 we had more than 3400 visitors. When purchasing 5 scanning electron microscopes (SEMs) we therefore have the following requirements to the microscopes:
1. Tabletop SEMs.
All 5 SEMs should fit in one single classroom. Therefore the dimensions of the SEMs should be at a minimum. The SEMs have to be user friendly and easy to operate within a short time. There should be no adjustment in the z-direction while scanning, so the chance of damaging the detectors is reduced.
2. Very easy to use and robust.
We expect 500 users in the laboratory every year, so the microscopes should be very robust. The students are only in the laboratory for 3-4 hours and within that time they shall be able to operate the SEMs themselves. The maintenance has to be at a minimum and therefore we want the SEMs to be simple.
3. Two types of detectors.
For educational purposes we need 5 identical SEMs, each with two different detectors: backscatter electron (BSE) detector and secondary electron (SE) detector to teach students how different signals are produced. We are aware of other tabletop SEMs that have other functionalities that can simulate a SE detector, but it does not give us the information we want. We want to make a direct comparison of the two images (BSE vs. SE) to see the differences and explain the students the reasons for the differences. We also want the tabletop SEMs to be training microscopes before the students continue to use more advanced SEMs. Therefore we need the two different detectors to teach the students when they should use one type of detector over the other.
4. Pre-centered cartridge filament that integrates a wehnelt and auto gun alignment
If a filament burns out during a student exercise then it should be fast and very easy to change the filament without manual alignment, so the SEMs have minimum downtime.
5. Advanced Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDS) software.
We want to do elemental analysis with the microscopes. The EDS software needs to be advanced to be used in our university courses, where we for example teach students about background correction and peak convolution.
Only the JEOL NeoScope (JCM-6000) with EDS fulfills the five criteria outlined above. Therefore we need to purchase 5 units of that specific tabletop scanning electron microscope with EDS.