Electron microscopes utilize a beam of accelerated electrons as a source of illumination, as opposed to light microscopy which uses visible light. By using electrons which have wavelengths about 100,000 times shorter than visible light photons, electron microscopes have vastly higher resolving power than light-based versions and can image objects as small as individual atoms. There are two main types of electron microscopes - transmission electron microscopes (TEM) and scanning electron microscopes (SEM).
Transmission Electron Microscope Industry
TEMs use a high-voltage electron beam that is transmitted through an ultra-thin specimen to map the interaction of Global Electron Microscope with the specimen. The resulting image provides information about the specimen's internal structure, crystal orientation, and other characteristics at resolutions around 0.2 nm. TEMs are widely employed in materials science research to study defects, grain structure, and other properties of crystalline samples. Biological applications involve imaging thin sections of cells and tissues, revealing ultrastructures such as organelles, cytoskeleton components, and viruses. Recent advances include aberration-corrected TEMs capable of sub-angstrom resolutions, enabling direct visualization of individual atoms and bonds. Cryo-TEMs use vitrified specimens at liquid nitrogen temperatures to image biological samples in a near-native state.