Microscopy Home PageFor study by transmitted illumination, a specimen must obviously be thin enough for an adequate amount of the incident beam to penetrate. In the case of light microscopy various methods were developed many years ago, sectioning, squashing or smearing for soft, biological samples, grinding and polishing for hard, materials-science specimens such as rocks, metal alloys and so forth.
For electron methods (TEM and STEM) the specimen needs to be much thinner than for light work and the traditional ways are rarely adequate. Tripod polishing is one method devised to create ultra thin, very smooth specimens for TEM.
If you're a materials scientist you probably already know about this technique, but if (like me) you were reared on biological research a tripod polisher may sound like a photographer with very shiny gear. So what is tripod polishing?
Tripod polishing equipment is available commercially, but at least one laboratory has tried rolling its own. Visit the Center for Microanalysis of Materials and look at their Tripod Polisher page for advice and ideas, even a blueprint to follow. There's a detailed photo of a tripod polisher, as well as several pictures of the process in use.
For those interested in more details of the technique, a workshop on tripod polishing is planned for 10-11 November. You can get details by e-mail from 73531.1344@compuserve.com.