The objective of high‐resolution analytical electron microscopy is the determination of the local structure of a wide variety of specimens. This is accomplished by collecting and analyzing the many different signals emitted by a sample when it is irradiated by a high‐energy (around 100 keV) electron probe. At present one can determine the structure and composition of solids at spatial resolutions of 50 nm or less; the results are, in general, characteristic of the bulk solids from which the specimens were taken. Such detailed knowledge of the local structure and composition of solids is required especially in geology, materials science, solid‐state physics and solid‐state chemistry, where properties such as flow stress, fracture modes, electron mobilities and phase transformations are highly sensitive to details of structure and composition.
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March 1981
March 01 1981
High‐resolution analytical electron microscopy
One can use elastically and inelastically scattered electrons and x rays from a sample illuminated by an electron beam to determine the composition and structure of extremely small regions of the sample.
Physics Today 34 (3), 34–44 (1981);