ABSTRACT
There has been, in general, a rapid growth in the development of techniques for structural characterization of a wide range of materials. Particularly, the study of surfaces has gained tremendous impetus from the commercial availability of scanning electron microscope with a resolution close to 30 A. Greater depth of focus and field associated with high resolution makes this instrument far superior to the conventional optical microscopes. It is now accepted that SEM is an essential tool for many aspects of research and development, quality control and failure analyses. The major advantage of this instrument is that the interaction of the electron beam with the surface of the specimen provides different signals which can be monitored independently. The aim has been to review the current status of using SEM for microstructural characterization but not to deal with the instrumentation aspects. There are several books (I ,2,3,4) available dealing with these aspects of SEM for ready reference.
