Making Replicas of Surfaces for TEM and SEM

Extract

Before SEMs were invented and when they were still of relatively poor resolution, one way to see the fine details of a sample surface was to prepare an electron-transparent replica of the sample surface and view it in a TEM. The carbon-coated surface of the sample was shadowed with a heavy metal to make a replica that mimicked the topography of the original surface, in a sample that could be viewed in the TEM.

We have found some value in this old technique; to examine second-phase particles freed from the metal matrix for EDX, diffraction, and morphology studies—while preserving the original position and distribution of the particles, historically called “extraction replication.”