This book offers an update on the latest advanced scanning electron microscopy (SEM) technologies and introduces the various SEM observations and applications to nanotechnology and nanoscience. It describes the key developments in SEM, such as field-emission electron guns, varios lens designs for in-lens systems, and multi-detector configurations. These developments not only enable the acquisition of diverse information through multiple detectors but have also driven the evolution of analytical techniques utilizing X-rays and diffraction effects.

The book is composed of two parts: basics and applications. The first reviews the fundamental physics necessary to understand the principles of advanced SEM, namely electron matter interaction, secondary electrons and their emission, instrumentation, specimen charging and contamination. The second part then provides practical insights, such as specimen preparation and typical observations and classification of the materials according to their physical characteristics, i.e. metals, semiconductors, insulators, and nanostructures.

Covering the basic physics of practical applications, the book serves as an SEM user guide for a wide readership, ranging from beginners to developers.

Takashi Sekiguchi is a Professor of Institute for Pure and Applied Sciences of University of Tsukuba. (2018-2026) He pursues of the development and application of scanning electron microscope (SEM). He was a managing researcher at the WPI Center for Materials Nanoarchitectonics (2000-2018), studying the defect in semiconductors

using cathodoluminescence (CL) and electron beam induced current (EBIC) techniques. National Institute for Materials Science as well as a professor at the. He received his Ph.D. from Tohoku University in 1996, and his interests include secondary electron (SE) imaging and its problems in the modern in-lens SEM. In particular he made significant contributions to the sharing of SEs with in-lens and out-lens detectors, consideration of transmitted electron in nanosheet observation, and charging of the specimens and/or chamber components. He received the Setou Award from the Japanese Society of Microscope in 2017. 

Dr. Kaoru Sato is a fellow at JFE Techno-Research Corporation, and he has worked on the microstructure characterization of steel mainly using transmission electron microscopy and scanning electron microscopy at JFE Steel for more than 30years. He received his master’s degree in physics from Tohoku University in 1981 and his Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge in 1989. He contributed to the design of advanced steel products from the data obtained by a precise signal acceptance of SEM images. He is a lecturer on SEM at the Electron Microscope University of the Japanese Society of Microscopy. He has received various awards including the Okochi Memorial Foundation Technology Prize in 2011. and the Setou Award from the Japanese Society of Microscopy in 2018.