Scanning electron microscopy: basic principles and applications

Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) can reveal topological details of a surface with clarity and detail which cannot he obtained by any other means. The last two decades have, however, seen a remarkable growth in the use of SEM in materials research and increasing so¬phistication of the instrumentation associated with the microscope. In the present lecture. attention has been paid to the basic principles u nderhing construction of the microscope. image formation in the microscope and the nature of electron-specimen interaction that en¬ables collection of information pertaining to the topographic, struc¬tural and chemical nature of the specimen being studied. In addition, the importance of SEM in the fractographic studies as well as failure analysis is included in the present paper.