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Radiation damage in dry and frozen hydrated organic material
Author(s) -
Lamvik M. K.
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
journal of microscopy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.569
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1365-2818
pISSN - 0022-2720
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2818.1991.tb03081.x
Subject(s) - radiation damage , radiolysis , radiation , electron microscope , materials science , irradiation , polymerization , electron , composite material , chemistry , optics , polymer , physics , quantum mechanics , nuclear physics
SUMMARY Electron‐induced radiation damage can cause errors in interpreting electron micrographs. Radiation damage is distinguished from contamination (polymerization of hydrocarbons) and etching (radiolysis in the presence of water), both of which can be controlled by a proper specimen environment in the microscope. While temperature has little effect on the primary interactions of fast electrons with matter, most secondary radiation‐damage processes are temperature dependent. Because damage mechanisms differ so greatly among materials, there is no simple factor by which specimen stability is improved as a function of temperature (some cases improve fivefold, others improve 100‐fold). While some specimens are stable to almost arbitrarily high doses, some tests reveal damage at 1 e/nm 2 . This paper surveys damage rates and temperature dependencies of various materials as a guide for future electron microscopic studies of organic specimens.