Artifacts in Transmission Electron Microscopy - Sample Preparation Topic for Transmission Electron Microscopy - page 168

5 Summary Tables

Two summary tables are presented below (Tables 6.2 and 6.3) . These tables list the
artifacts caused by preliminary preparation techniques, chemical- and ionic-thinning
techniques, mechanical-preparation techniques, replica techniques, techniques spe-
cific to divided materials, contrast enhancement techniques, and immunolabeling
techniques.

Table 6.2 Table summarizing the various artifacts formed by the preliminary preparation tech-
niques

Artifacts induced by preparation

Thermal damage due
to preparation Technique Mechanical Ionic Chemical Physical

Preliminary preparation techniques
Sawing +

Ultrasonic cutting
Mechanical
polishing

+ +

Dimpling +

Electropolishing +

Chemical polishing +

Sandwich technique
Embedding + +

Substitution-
infiltration-
embedding at
room temperature

+ +

Substitution-
infiltration-
embedding in
cryogenic mode

+ +

Chemical fixation +

Physical fixation:
Cryo-fixation

+

Continuous support
films

+ +

Holey support films + +