“Visualize the truth” is a hope of researchers who use various measuring equipment. Researchers who use electron microscopes as well have a desire to observe the real structure.
But actually, in experiments using electron microscopes, many problems arise: They include damage regions of the specimen when it is cut for the size suited to observation, artifacts due to the staining that is applied to enhance image contrast, deformation caused by substitution of water to resin for withstanding vacuum exposure, and thermal damage to the specimen with electron-beam irradiation. As a result, the visualization of the real structure in the microscope image becomes increasingly difficult.
One recommended solution is to cool the specimen, that is, “Cryo” techniques. This “Cryo Note” introduces some of the diversified cryo-techniques. We sincerely hope your challenge to observe the “real structure” will be solved by “Cryo” methods.
This CryoNote includes:
- Cryo History
- A wide range of Cryo-techniques
- Freezing
- Sectioning / Fracturing
- Etching (Ice sublimation)
- Cryo-TEM
- Freeze Substitution
- Freeze Replication
- Cryo-SEM
- Low-Vacuum SEM and Cooling with Peltier element
- Cryo-FIB
- Cooling CP (Cryo-CP)