Monday July 21 – Tuesday July 22, 2025  9 am to 4 pm

Theory presentations in the morning (9am to noon) are followed by hands-on and demonstration sessions in the afternoon (1 pm to 4 pm). Quiz: Tuesday afternoon.

Cost: $200 TAMU, $350 Other Universities, $500 Industry;  Class Limit: 15 students

Payment will be processed through the iLab reservation and scheduling system. Students and other lab members should discuss with their PI or lab financial manager and get an account number that can be used for billing. If you are a non-TAMU user, please contact Sara Maynard (smaynard@bio.tamu.edu)  or Avery McIntosh (almcintosh@tamu.edu) to get you set up.  

The course covers the principles of sample preparation, SEM imaging, EDS/EBSD analysis, Focused Ion Beam (FIB) milling.  Intended for those  just starting with SEM as well as those who have experience but feel that they need a better understanding of the techniques. While the Short Course does not qualify as regular training for independent operation of the SEM, TAMU participants may get trained on the Tescan Vega SEM at reduced cost (approximately half price).

Users who want to bring their own sample should contact MIC (stanvitha@tamu.edu) ahead of time so that the sample can be adequately prepared. If there is not enough time during the afternoon sessions, additional time will be scheduled for imaging these samples.

Program:    

Monday  9:00 AM-12:00 PM lectures

• Basic principles of SEM: Interactions of electron beam with the sample, types of signals commonly used in SEM (SE, BSE, CL, X-Ray);  SEM Design, vacuum system, electron sources.  Effects of accelerating voltage on resolution, charging, depth, contrast (Vitha).
• BREAK  
• Principles of sample preparation for SEM (Vitha)

Monday Demo/hands-on 1:00 PM-4:00 PM

• Preparation of hydrated samples: Fixation, Dehydration, critical point drying
• Mounting of samples on SEM mounts
• Making the samples conductive: sputter coating, evaporative carbon coating, osmium tetroxide vapor coating, ionic liquids,
• Loading of samples and basic operation of SEM (Tescan Vega, FEI Quanta): beam alignment, stigmation, spot size and resolution vs. magnification.  Effects of working distance, beam intensity/spot size, accelerating voltage on contrast, resolution. Charging artefacts.  Imaging uncoated, non-conductive  samples. Hands-on operation of the Vega SEM  

Tuesday 9:00 AM-12:00 PM lectures

• Analytical SEM : EDS, EBSD – principles, applications, examples (Kim)
• SEM of non-conductive samples, environmental SEM, Variable pressure SEM, beam deceleration, .. (Vitha)
• Cryo-SEM, FIB, 3D SEM imaging (Sen)
• SEM in surface characterization: Building a Digital Elevation Model from stereo images, texture/roughness analysis (Vitha)

Tuesday Demo/hands-on 1:00 PM-4:00 PM

• EDS analysis on Vega and Quanta SEM: point, line, mapping
• EBSD (Quanta)??
• High resolution SEM imaging (Quanta, Helios?)
• Surface 3D imaging, texture analysis using Vega SEM, MeX software
• Image Stitching,