Equipment for environmental technique in a standard SEM

A simple attachment for the environmental technique is presented, which can be mounted in a standard scanning electron microscope (SEM) without changes in its original structure. The main part of the unit is the intermediate vacuum and detection chamber designed in the form of a compact head, which contains a ionisation secondary electron detector and a Robinson detector. An alternative is the newly designed two-stage secondary electron detector, which offers all advantages of the Everhart–Thornley scintillator detector. The unit allows gas pressures in the order of 10 mbar in the sample chamber. It is enough for the examination of not only insulators but also a range of water-containing specimens.