Electron Microscopy Surface replicas
Replica technique is of particular value in examination of the finer details of the specimen surface. A thin layer (20-50 nm) of coherent material of low molecular weight, generally carbon, is deposited onto the surface of microorganism in vacuo. The specimen is then dissolved carefully leaving a carbon film having replica of the surface of specimen. To get better results replicas are generally shadow-casted before the examination. The process described here is a single stage replica technique. For a detailed description of this technique see Bradley (26) and Bigelow and Rowley (27).
