This book has its origins in the intensive short courses on scanning elec tron microscopy and x-ray microanalysis which have been taught annually at Lehigh University since 1972. In order to provide a textbook containing the materials presented in the original course, the lecturers collaborated to write the book Practical Scanning Electron Microscopy (PSEM), which was published by Plenum Press in 1975. The course con tinued to evolve and expand in the ensuing years, until the volume of material to be covered necessitated the development of separate intro ductory and advanced courses. In 1981...

During the last four decades remarkable developments have taken place in instrumentation and techniques for characterizing the microstructure and microcomposition of materials. Some of the most important of these instruments involve the use of electron beams because of the wealth of information that can be obtained from the interaction of electron beams with matter. The principal instruments include the scanning electron microscope, electron probe x-ray microanalyzer, and the analytical transmission electron microscope. The training of students to use these instruments and to apply the new...

In the decade since the publication of the second edition of Scanning Electron Microscopy and X-Ray Microanalysis, there has been a great expansion in the capabilities of the basic scanning electron microscope (SEM) and the x-ray spectrometers. The emergence of the variab- pressure/environmental SEM has enabled the observation of samples c- taining water or other liquids or vapor and has allowed for an entirely new class of dynamic experiments, that of direct observation of che- cal reactions in situ. Critical advances in electron detector technology and computer-aided analysis have enabled...

In the last decade, since the publication of the first edition of Scanning Electron Microscopy and X-ray Microanalysis, there has been a great expansion in the capabilities of the basic SEM and EPMA. High- resolution imaging has been developed with the aid of an extensive range of field emission gun (FEG) microscopes. The magnification ranges of these instruments now overlap those of the transmission electron microscope. Low-voltage microscopy using the FEG now allows for the observation of noncoated samples. In addition, advances in the develop- ment of x-ray wavelength and energy dispersive...

From its early days in the 1950s, the electron microanalyzer has offered two principal ways of obtaining x-ray spectra: wavelength dispersive spectrometry (WDS), which utilizes crystal diffraction, and energy dispersive spectrometry (EDS), in which the x-ray quantum energy is measured directly. In general, WDS offers much better peak separation for complex line spectra, whereas EDS gives a higher collection efficiency and is easier and cheaper to use. Both techniques have undergone major transformations since those early days, from the simple focusing spectrometerand gas proportional counter...

This book has evolved by processes of selection and expansion from its predecessor, Practical Scanning Electron Microscopy (PSEM), published by Plenum Press in 1975. The interaction of the authors with students at the Short Course on Scanning Electron Microscopy and X-Ray Microanalysis held annually at Lehigh University has helped greatly in developing this textbook. The material has been chosen to provide a student with a general introduction to the techniques of scanning electron microscopy and x-ray microanalysis suitable for application in such fields as biology, geology, solid state...