Complementary scanning electron microscope (SEM) shale images for improved super-resolution network

Description

The complementary images acquired for the super-resolution dataset were obtained through scanning electron microscope (SEM) scanning. These images are suitable for testing super-resolution networks. Shale samples from five regions in China—Gulong, Jiyang, Jimusar, Yanchang, and Changqing—were scanned using two types of SEMs: the Quanta 200F Field-Emission Environmental SEM (FEE-SEM) and the Hitachi SU8010 Field-Emission SEM (FE-SEM). The Quanta 200F FEE-SEM, made by Thermo Fisher Scientific in the USA, features a field emission gun that enables operations under high vacuum, low vacuum, and environmental SEM modes. This versatility allows for the analysis of various sample types under different conditions. The Hitachi SU8010 FE-SEM, produced by Hitachi High-Tech Corporation in Japan, is equipped with a secondary electron detector and an energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX) detector, including the Bruker EDX Detector and EDX XFLASH Detector, which enhance its capability for detailed compositional analysis. The FEE-SEM captured grayscale images of the shale samples from all five regions at magnifications of 1X, 2X, 4X, 8X, and 16X, corresponding to voxel lengths of 9.1 nm, 18.2 nm, 36.4 nm, 72.8 nm, and 145.6 nm, respectively. The FE-SEM specifically scanned shale samples from the Gulong and Jiyang regions at the same five magnifications, with corresponding voxel lengths of 12.4 nm, 24.8 nm, 49.6 nm, 99.2 nm, and 198.4 nm. Actually, the FE-SEM and FEE-SEM images are not for the same location. This is partially because matching the same the location is quite difficult using two different equipments. The purpose of using two equipments is to show the observed phenomena is general but not limited to any specific equipment.