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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 physics, and materials science. Following the format of PSEM, this book gives the student a basic knowledge of (1) the user-controlled functions of the electron optics of the scanning electron microscope and electron microprobe, (2) the characteristics of electron-beam-sample inter­ actions, (3) image formation and interpretation, (4) x-ray spectrometry, and (5) quantitative x-ray microanalysis. Each of these topics has been updated and in most cases expanded over the material presented in PSEM in order to give the reader sufficient coverage to understand these topics and apply the information in the laboratory. Throughout the text, we have attempted to emphasize practical aspects of the techniques, describing those instru­ ment parameters which the microscopist can and must manipulate to obtain optimum information from the specimen. Certain areas in particular have been expanded in response to their increasing importance in the SEM field. Thus energy-dispersive x-ray spectrometry, which has undergone a tremendous surge in growth, is treated in substantial detail.

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 spectrometers allow for the measurement of low-energy x-rays, particularly from the light elements (B, C, N, 0). In the area of x-ray microanalysis, great advances have been made, particularly with the'phi rho z'[Ij)(pz)] technique for solid samples, and with other quantitation methods for thin films, particles, rough surfaces, and the light elements. In addition, x-ray imaging has advanced from the conventional technique of'dot mapping'to the method of quantitative compositional imaging. Beyond this, new software has allowed the development of much more meaningful displays for both imaging and quantitative analysis results and the capability for integrating the data to obtain specific information such as precipitate size, chemical analysis in designated areas or along specific directions, and local chemical inhomogeneities.