Since the publication in 1979 of Introduction to Analytical Electron Microscopy (ed. J. J. Hren, J. I. Goldstein, and D. C. Joy; Plenum Press), analytical electron microscopy has continued to evolve and mature both as a topic for fundamental scientific investigation and as a tool for inorganic and organic materials characterization. Significant strides have been made in our understanding of image formation, electron diffraction, and beam/specimen interactions, both in terms of the "physics of the processes" and their practical implementation in modern instruments. It is the intent of the...

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...