Transmission Electron Microscopy

Abstract

How is this book different from the many other TEM books? It has several unique features but what we think distinguishes it from all other such books is that it is truly a textbook. We wrote it to be read by, and taught to, senior undergraduates and starting graduate students, rather than studied in a research laboratory. We wrote it using the same style and sentence construction that we have used in countless classroom lectures, rather than how we have written our countless (and much-less read) formal scientific papers.In this respect particularly,we have been deliberate in not referencing the sources of every experimental fact or theoretical concept (although we do include some hints and clues in the chapters). However, at the end of each chapter we have included groups of references that should lead you to the best sources in the literature and help you go into more depth as you become more confident about what you are looking for. We are great believers in the value of history as the basis for understanding the present and so the history of the techniques and key historical references are threaded throughout the book. Just because a reference is dated in the previous century (or even the antepenultimate century) doesn’t mean it isn’t useful! Likewise, with the numerous figures drawn from across the fields of materials science and engineering and nanotechnology, we do not reference the source in each caption. But at the very end of the book each of our many generous colleagues whose work we have used is clearly acknowledged. The book consists of 40 relatively small chapters (with a few notable Carter exceptions!). The contents of most of the chapters can be covered in a typical lecture of 50-75 minutes (especially if you talk as fast as Williams). Furthermore, each of the four softbound volumes is flexible enough to be usable at the TEM console so you can check what you are seeing against what you should be seeing. Most importantly perhaps, the softbound version is cheap enough for all serious students to buy. So we hope you won’t have to try and work out the meaning of the many complex color diagrams from secondhand B&W copies that you acquired from a former student. We have deliberately used color where it is useful rather than simply for its own sake (since all electron signals are colorless anyhow). There are numerous boxes throughout the text, drawing your attention to key information (green), warnings about mistakes you might easily make (amber), and dangerous practices or common errors (red). Our approach throughout this text is to answer two fundamental questions: Why should we use a particular TEM technique? How do we put the technique into practice?