Beam‐induced loss of organic mass under electron‐microprobe conditions

SUMMARY The loss of mass from biological tissue sections during electron microprobe irradiation was observed by means of a silicon semiconductor detector set to record continuum X radiation. The rate of loss depended on several factors, conspicuously on specimen temperature. In accord with earlier observations with non‐focused beams, most of the ‘immediate’ loss occurred within an electron dose of the order of 10−10 C/μm2.