Skip to main content

Hitachi

Hitachi High Technologies in America

AeroSurf 1500 Tabletop Atmospheric Scanning Electron Microscope (ASEM)

AeroSurf 1500 Tabletop Atmospheric Scanning Electron Microscope (ASEM)

SEM observation at an atmospheric pressure as well as under vacuum. Wet specimens can be observed in their natural state without preprocessing.

Overview

Hitachi developed a new concept in scanning electron microscopes, the AeroSurf. The hybrid tabletop atmospheric SEM (ASEM) has an extremely thin membrane which separates the evacuated column and atmospheric-pressure chamber, enabling the observation of typically difficult specimens, such as bulk or wet samples, in their natural state.

Atmospheric SEM Observation (Figure 1)

  • Specimen is placed under atmospheric pressure (105 Pa)
  • The specimen chamber is separated from the SEM unit by a membrane, which maintains vacuum in the column while allowing electron imaging of the specimen at an atmospheric pressure
  • Observation while under vacuum is also available (approx. 103 to 105 Pa)

Low Vacuum Observation (Figure 2)

  • The membrane is removable allowing low-vacuum SEM observation as well as EDS analysis
  • Equipped with a high-sensitivity semiconductor BSE detector

Atomospheric & Negative Pressure Mode

Low Vacuum Mode

Features

  • SEM observation of high-moisture specimens at an atmospheric pressure without preprocessing
  • SEM observation under a wide pressure range from low vacuum to atmosphere (105 Pa)
  • ES-Corrector equipped for wide scatter signal discrimination and an enhanced image quality
  • A compact design (330 mm wide) minimizes system footprint
  • EDS analysis optionally available (vacuum mode)

Specifications

Specifications
Electron Gun Pre-centered cartridge filament
Detector High-sensitivity Semiconductor BSE Detector
Accelerated Voltage 5 kV / 15 kV
Magnifications 15 x to 60,000 x (240,000 x with digital zoom)
Observation Pressure Atmospheric mode (105 Pa) with the membrane
Negative pressure mode (approx. 103 Pa to 105 Pa) with the membrane
Vacuum mode (approx. values between few Pa to several tens Pa) without membrane
Max Sample Size 55 mm in diameter
Dimensions Main unit: 330 (W) x 687 (D) x 565 (H)  mm, 67.0 kg
Control unit: 220 (W) x 368 (D) x 235 (H)  mm, 11.8 kg
Diaphragm pump: 145 (W) x 256 (D) x 217 (H)  mm, 4.5 kg (x2)

Gallery

Materials

Observation of Zeptoron PP (Polypropylene Nanofibers)

Observation of Zeptoron PP (Polypropylene Nanofibers)

Plants

Chrysanthemum Pollen

Chrysanthemum Pollen

Food

Dry Pasta

Dry Pasta

Bio

Escherichia coli

Hitachi Microscopy and Microanalysis Webinar Series