The electron microscope

• an advantage of the electron microscope is that it has a very short wavelength meaning is can resolve objects very well
• an advantage of the electron microscope is that as electrons are negatively charged the beam can be focused using electromagnets
• when using a TEM, the whole system is vacuumed and therefore living specimens cannot be viewed
• the TEM only produces black and white images
• when using a TEM, there could be artifacts affecting the image
• the TEM only produces 2D images
• all limitations of the TEM also apply to the SEM
• the SEM produces a 3D image
• the SEM produces a colour image
• the SEM has a lower resolution than the TEM