The surface sensitivity of both imaging and EDX chemical microanalysis of materials, micro-fabrications and nanostructures can be greatly enhanced by using low beam energies in the SEM (LVSEM). This has become more apparent with the advent of instruments which are relatively uncompromised in performance (<5nm) at a range of low voltages around 1kV, and especially ones with higher resolution (≤2.5nm) and full digital imaging to make a wide range of conditions more readily accessible (1). They yield images of natural surfaces retaining their inherent chemical and electronic image contrasts and with probe sizes comparable to those which we are familar with at high voltages, but where many samples require to be coated with metal. The traditional SEM resolution test samples for evaluating SEM imaging are far from a typical bulk SEM sample. The small heavy metal particles on a carbon support behave more like the STEM situation since the backscattering of electrons from the support, and hence the generation of type 2 secondary electrons, is very limited.