A scanning electron microscope displays the surface of objects and gives a three-dimensional impression of the specimen.

The scanning electron microscope EVO LS10 (Carl Zeiss Microscopy GmbH) is ideal for many applications due to a wide pressure range. Working under high vacuum conditions requires anhydrous specimens coated with a thin metal layer. For that reason, biological samples need to be prepared for scanning electron microscopy. In contrast, the variable pressure mode gives the possibility to analyze samples without preparation and coating so that the samples afterwards are available for other analyses. The microscope is additionally equipped with an EDX system by Oxford Instruments (Wiesbaden) for qualitative and (semi-)quantitative elemental analysis.