Isolate your cell sample. If your cells are growing in a petri dish, for instance, remove cells from the bottom of the dish, centrifuge by spinning the cells at high speed to obtain a cell pellet, and take a cell scraping.
Dry the cell scraping in a drying oven. The cells must be completely dry before placing them in the SEM to avoid damaging the SEM.
Place a small piece of electrical tape on an SEM mounting platform. Wearing latex gloves, gently -- to avoid breaking dead cells -- spread the dry cells onto the electrical tape with a small lab spatula. Place the mounting platform into a gold-coating machine. Coat the cells with gold.
Vent the sample chamber of your SEM. The sample chamber is a compartment containing a "stage," on which you mount your sample. All viewing of a sample takes place by aiming an electron beam within the sample chamber, at the sample, and by obtaining an image from the electrons that bounce off the sample.
Open the chamber and place your mounting platform on the microscope stage. Close the chamber and click "pump," using the software attached to the SEM, to create a vacuum in the chamber.
Switch on the electron beam when the computer notifies you that you have obtained a vacuum. Focus the stage so that the beam is aimed at your sample. Zoom in to view the details of your cells. The SEM creates a real-time video of your cells by constantly aiming an electron beam at them. Electrons bounce off the gold creating a highly detailed image that you can view on your computer screen.
Acquire images of your cells by taking snapshots from different angles and with different scales.