This is a brief tutorial to help you understand how the scanning electron microscope (abbreviated as SEM) creates breathtaking three-dimensional images. The scanning electron microscope provides detailed surface information of a sample. It also has a large depth of field, which means that a lot of the sample is in focus at one time.

This Web site is divided into three sections.  You can visit each section independently or simply browse from one page to the next using the "Next" button.
 

 

You can also take a look at some sample pictures that were obtained using a scanning electron microscope.

 

This web site is best viewed on monitors that have a minimum 
horizontal resolution of 800 pixels or greater and a color depth of greater than 255 colors.

SEM Web Site created and maintained by David J. Wright and Shirley J. Wright
Department of Biology, The University of Dayton.
All images and text are copyright protected.  All rights reserved.
Copyright © 1999 Shirley J. Wright (Shirley.Wright@notes.udayton.edu)