Cosmic Dust Catalog Volume 21,1
Preliminary Examination of Particles
Each rinsed particle is examined, before leaving the Class-100 clean room processing area, with a petrographic research microscope equipped with transmitted, reflected and oblique light illuminators. At a magnification of 200-500X, size, shape, transparency, color, and luster are determined and recorded for each particle.
After optical description, each mount (with uncoated particles) is examined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray energy-dispersive spectrometry (EDS). Secondary-electron imaging of each particle was performed with an ISI SEM at an accelerating voltage of 15 kV. Images are therefore of relatively low contrast and resolution due to deliberate avoidance of conventionally applied conductive coats (carbon or gold-palladium) which might interfere with later elemental analyses of particles. EDS data are collected with the same SEM. Using an accelerating voltage of 20 kV, each particle is raster scanned and its X-ray spectrum recorded over the 0-10 keV range by counting for 30 sec. No system (artifact) peaks of significance appear in the spectra.