Development and Application of an Internet Electron Microscopy System for the Outreach Program in Japan

Abstract

The development of a remotely operated scanning electron microscopy (SEM) system and its use by high school students and the public as an outreach program are reported. The SEM and the server are located in the National Institute for Materials Science, Tsukuba, Japan, with client computers installed at a science museum and high schools. Using a secure virtual private network system and scheduling/management groupware, observation of SEM images and energy dispersive X-ray analysis are widely and frequently performed throughout Japan.