Gatan, Inc. KnowHow Issue 14

	Fast simultaneous access to multiple analytical TEM data streams with GIF Tridiem and STEMPack
	Advanced Techniques for Spectral Mapping
	PECS Slope Cutting of Cast Iron
	Critical Specimen Focus in Biological Pathology and Research Applications
	Cryo-SEM Made Easy
	XuM: Image below the surface and add another dimension to microscopy using the SEM

News Flash

KnowHow 14 December 2006


	Happy holidays. We hope you and your families are enjoying the holiday season and are looking forward to a prosperous New Year. 2006 was a very successful year for Gatan. We launched a substantial number of innovative products aimed at providing our customers (YOU) with more tools to solve problems they are facing and helping them achieve the best results. Some of these new products push the envelope of traditional electron microscopy. The 3View™ is a revolutionary serial imaging instrument in the SEM that bridges the resolution gap between light microscopy (LM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) for neuroscience applications. Our demonstrations of the 3View™ data at both Neuroscience meetings (Europe and US) in 2006 drew record crowds to our booth. Now, many scientists and researchers are exploring its tremendous potential in other application fields, such as polymers, botany, and materials science. In 2007, Gatan will have a new countenance. What is the purpose of this new “face?” It is to inform and show YOU, our customers, and the EM community that “Gatan gets it!” Our ultimate goal has always been to understand YOUR problems and design the right products to solve these problems. For over 40 years, we have demonstrated that we understand the application criteria of our customers and provide them with the right solutions for their application needs. We have the Know-How knowledge. Our products set the industry standard. So we are proud to say: We get it! So please look for our new corporate branding and campaign on our website and in our ads, exhibits, and product references. We hope you like the direction Gatan is going. KnowHow continues to be a key mode of communicating application issues with you. The articles, authored by our senior product staff, provide you with practical tips to help you attain your application objectives and make your work easier and more effective. We hope you find these articles helpful. We wish you a wonderful holiday season and a successful 2007! Ming Pan Director of Marketing Gatan, Inc.

Fast simultaneous access to multiple analytical TEM data streams with GIF Tridiem and STEMPack

By Mike Kundermann, Gatan Inc.

You do analytical TEM to reveal important micro- and nano-scale details of your samples. You need all the structural and compositional information you can get and you need it in short order, preferably within a single, easy-to-use data acquisition and analysis environment.

So what’s the best way to achieve such analytical TEM bliss?

The answer is a complete and fully integrated analytical TEM data acquisition system from Gatan. To find out more click here

	Advanced Techniques for Spectral Mapping
		By Paul Thomas, Gatan Inc The spectrum-imaging technique (or SI) is a powerful and convenient tool for advanced materials characterization. Using one or a combination of spectral signals (e.g. EELS, CL and/or EDS), large multi-dimensional data sets can be captured in a rapid manner. Data capture using spectrum-imaging offers the major advantage over simple point spectroscopy in that the spatial information is acquired in addition to the spectral data. Once acquired, spectral processing and fitting algorithms can be used to extract physical properties not as single values, but as a 2 dimensional distribution map. Further, subtle information, not apparent from a few images or spectra alone, can often be found. Accordingly, powerful data-analysis and visualization tools are required to enable the optimal extraction and interpretation of results in a fast, convenient and accurate manner. Click here to read the full article.

Application Note: PECS Slope Cutting of Cast Iron

By Richard Mitro, Gatan Inc.

Cast iron with spheroidal graphite (SG) is made by adding trace amounts of magnesium to the same raw material as grey iron melt before casting. The graphite forms in a spherical shape instead of flakes. The challenges when preparing samples for analysis are retaining the graphite in its original shape and size and keeping the graphite nodules retained. A common preparation error in mechanical polishing is the insufficient removal of smeared matrix metal after grinding, which can obscure the true shape and size of graphite.

Click here to read the full article

Cryo Transfer Scanning Electron Microscope (Cryo-SEM) Made Easy

By Marilyn Carey, Gatan UK

Cryo-SEM is now a widely used technique for the observation of many sample types from a host of different academic, R&D and quality control facilities, for example, botanical, biological, agricultural, pharmaceutical, petrochemical, food, cosmetic, detergent and construction industries. Cryo-SEM has two main advantages over other sample preparatory techniques; samples remain hydrated and preparation time is extremely short, typically 15 minutes or less. A modern FEG-SEM equipped with Gatan’s Alto 2500 has enabled Cryo-SEM to be regarded as a high resolution technique, with the visualization of structures less than 5nm to be achievable at low accelerating voltage.

Click here for the full article.

Critical Specimen Focus in Biological Pathology and Research Applications
	Kenneth L. Tiekotter, Dept. of Biology, University of Portland, Portland, Oregon 97203tiekotte@up.edu Anyone who has learned to use a transmission electron microscope in the past 40 years can attest: one of the most difficult aspects to master is that of specimen focus. Everyone has gone through the process of finding a hole in the substrate or imaging a small piece of precipitate ‘pepper’ to view the contrast of the Fresnel fringe to set under- or over-focus conditions. This procedure is done at moderately high magnifications using the focusing screen and the binocular and wobbler. Furthermore, under-focus is necessary to create additional contrast in an otherwise flat image. Click here for the full article.

XuM: Image below the surface and add another dimension to microscopy using the SEM

By Julie Sheffield-Parker

At M&M in August this year, Gatan launched the XuM, a novel x-ray microscope which is an accessory to a scanning electron microscope. Unlike most imaging and analytical techniques available on the SEM, the XuM allows the user to look inside the sample structure rather than just examine the surface or near-surface structure. This ability to image internal structure means that many samples can be analysed completely intact without the need for cross-sectioning which would both destroy the sample and would raise the possibility of introducing sample preparation artefacts.

Click here to read the full article.

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Gatan Inc. Corporate Headquarters, 5933 Coronado Lane, Pleasanton, CA 94588
Tel. (925) 463 0200 Fax. (925) 463 0204
Contact: info @gatan.com