Research Article Investigation of CPD and HMDS Sample Preparation Techniques for Cervical Cells in Developing Computer-Aided Screening System Based on FE-SEM/EDX

Copyright © 2014 Yessi Jusman et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. This paper investigated the effects of critical-point drying (CPD) and hexamethyldisilazane (HMDS) sample preparation techniques for cervical cells on field emission scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive X-ray (FE-SEM/EDX). We investigated the visualization of cervical cell image and elemental distribution on the cervical cell for two techniques of sample preparation. Using FE-SEM/EDX, the cervical cell images are captured and the cell element compositions are extracted for both sample preparation techniques. Cervical cell image quality, elemental composition, andprocessing time are considered for comparison of performances. Qualitatively, FE-SEM image based on HMDS preparation technique has better image quality than CPD technique in terms of degree of spread cell on the specimen andmorphologic signs of cell deteriorations (i.e., existence of plate and pellet drying artifacts and membrane blebs). Quantitatively, with mapping and line scanning EDX analysis, carbon and oxygen element compositions in HMDS techniquewere higher than the CPD technique in terms of weight percentages.TheHMDS technique has shorter processing time than the CPD technique. The results indicate that FE-SEM imaging, elemental composition, and processing time for sample preparation with the HMDS technique were better than CPD technique for cervical cell preparation technique for developing computer-aided screening system. 1