SEM is commonly used in semiconductor, sample prep with gold sputtering is often practiced as well. what I am amazed about is during sample prep, chamber temp is usually quite high and might have melted the record, but that does not appear to be the case.
with semiconductor production marching toward 228/32nm, TEM is becoming a norm for ultra high resolution image. TEM requires sample to be "sliced off" from the substrate, you can see atomic level resolution though it will not look nearly as cool as the SEM pictures in this link.
btw, a dual beam SEM with voltage contrast will easily run over $1M.
with semiconductor production marching toward 228/32nm, TEM is becoming a norm for ultra high resolution image. TEM requires sample to be "sliced off" from the substrate, you can see atomic level resolution though it will not look nearly as cool as the SEM pictures in this link.
btw, a dual beam SEM with voltage contrast will easily run over $1M.