Milexia Ibérica have installed the first Hitachi FE-SEM SU8600 microscope at the ICM-CSIC, Barcelona.
Instituto de Ciencias del Mar – Spanish National Research Council (ICM-CSIC) install the new Hitachi FE-SEM SU8600 microscope.
Requirement
As the ICM-CSIC has advanced in its research, it has needed a microscope with higher performance, so they made the decision to acquire a FE-SEM. The ICM-CSIC has been a loyal user of Hitachi High-Tech equipment for more than three decades.
Jose Manuel Fortuño and Mariona Segura commented: “The Institute of Marine Sciences (ICM-CSIC) is a multidisciplinary marine research center that conducts frontier research on marine ecosystems, including ocean and climate interactions, conservation and sustainable use of marine life and ecosystems, and impact mitigation of natural and anthropogenic hazards.
At the Electron Microscopy Service, we study all types of samples of marine origin and, for the most part, biological, like planktonic and benthonic organisms, crustaceans, cephalopods, and fish.”
Solution
Milexia Ibérica’s technical service team worked closely with the teams from Milexia France ‘Instrumentation Scientifique’, Hitachi High-Tech Europe GmbH and Bruker to meet the different technical and training requirements of the customer.
The configuration of this high specification equipment includes several interesting options such as the EM Flow Creator, PD-STEM Darkfield Detector and HD Capture Image. This is in addition to an EDX Bruker with dual detector XFlash 730, which also includes a Hitachi ZoneSEM II (UV sample cleaning) and a Quorum Q150T ESPlus (sputter coater combined with two targets for Cr and Ir plus C turboevaporator).
After installation and set-up, a first training course on the use of the microscope and EDX was given. Following a short period of time to familiarise the ICM-CSIC users with the equipment, more advanced training was given, including the more specific functions and practical cases with samples from the ICM-CSIC.
Result and conclusion
This service was a success thanks to the experience and skills of the specialists from Milexia Ibérica and Milexia France (Scientific Instrumentation Division), Hitachi High-Tech Europe GmbH and Bruker, who worked hard and in a coordinated way.
Fortuño and Segura continued: “The recent acquisition of a Hitachi SU8600 FE-SEM allows us to obtain ultra-high-resolution images at low acceleration voltages and minimum current on the sample. The possibility of varying the current that is emitted and that reaches the surface of the sample, together with the different detectors available, represents for us a great qualitative advance in the observation of biological samples, especially marine nanoplankton, including viruses, in order to optimally identify their morphologies, which is of utmost importance in the study of toxic species. The high resolution and the availability of a STEM detector also facilitates the morphological description and chemical microanalysis of small prokaryotes, such as bacteria and cyanobacteria. All these new possibilities contribute to the realization of multidisciplinary and frontier research at the ICM.”
The installation of this complex microscope required a complete service that the Milexia Group was able to provide, successfully meeting the high expectations of the customer.
