01840
Substrates, Support Films
for Transmission Electron Microscopy Grids
PELCO® TEM grid Support Films of Formvar, Formvar/Carbon, Carbon, and Silicon Monoxide are available on the following 3.05mm O.D. grids: 0.4 x 2mm single slot Cu, 75 mesh Cu, 200 mesh Cu,Ni or Au, 200 mesh Hex Mo, 300 mesh Cu, Ni or Au, 300 mesh Hex Mo, and 400 mesh Cu, Ni, Au, Al, Ti and stainless steel.
Support films on the finer mesh grids can withstand considerable handling during specimen preparation. Those on slot and 75 mesh grids require more gentle handling and are ideal for those applications requiring large viewing areas without grid bar interference.
Our popular line of PELCO NetMesh™ Grids (our trademarked lacey films) are available on 200, 300 and 400 mesh grids. These robust films allow for viewing of specimens without interference from underlying support film material.
The complete PELCO® line of support films meets the requirements of most applications in all fields of electron microscopy.
TEM Support Film Product Note, How Material is Layered on the Grid.
Consult the Support Film / Substrate Application Guide below for suggestions on support film choice:
PELCO® TEM Grid Support Film Application Guide
This Support Film Application Guide will help you determine what support film to use for your particular transmission electron microscopy project. Once you have decided which substrate best suits your needs, you can go back up on the page for a listing of available Support Films and pricing.
Substrate Application |
Formvar Only |
Formvar Stabilized with Carbon |
Silicon Monoxide on Formvar |
Silicon Monoxide on Type-A |
Carbon Type-A |
Carbon Type-B |
Pure Carbon Film |
Is Lacey Film suitable for this application? |
Applications Requiring Pure Formvar | B | - | - | - | - | - | - | No |
Bacterial Suspensions | - | G | B | B | B | B | B | Yes |
Cell Fragment Suspensions | - | B | B | B | B | B | B | Yes |
Diffraction Studies | - | - | G | G | B | B | B | Yes |
EDS (energy dispersive spectrometry) | - | G | - | - | B | B | G | Yes |
High Resolution Microscopy | - | G | G | B | B | B | B | Yes |
High Temperature Techniques / Heating Stage | - | - | - | G | B | - | B |
Yes (Type A) |
Low Magnification Microscopy | G | B | B | G | G | B | G | No |
Particulate Suspension, Biological | - | G | B | B | B | B | B | Yes |
Particulate Suspension, Non-biological | - | G | B | B | B | B | B | Yes |
Powders, Dry | - | G | B | G | G | B | G | No |
Replicas & Low Temperature Techniques | G | B | - | - | G | B | G |
Yes (Type-A) |
Thin Sections | G | B | G | B | G | B | G | Yes |
Viral Suspensions | - | G | G | B | B | B | B | Yes |
Typically packaged in PELCO® TEM Grid Storage Box (Product Number 160) but is subject to change to other equally suitable grid storage boxes.
Pure Carbon Film
Carbon films with a thickness of 15-25nm with no Formvar used during manufacturing. Completely free of Formvar. Carbon films are thin and highly transparent to electrons. They exhibit very fine grain and minimal interference with specimen structure. Films are ready to use upon receipt. The pure carbon films tend to be more delicate than support films with a Formvar backing and require more delicate handling during specimen preparation. Available on Cu, Ni, and Au TEM grids with 200, 300, and 400 mesh. Mo grid only available in 200 mesh hex. Al and Ti only available in 400 mesh.
PELCO® Technical Note, Pure Carbon Film (143KB PDF)