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...