FRONTIERS OF ELECTRON-MICROSCOPY IN MATERIALS SCIENCE

The intimate relationship between properties of materials and their microstructure makes the microscope an essential tool for the materials scientist. The electron microscope plays a particularly important role because the spatial resolution extends down to atomic dimensions, and because of the wealth of techniques and signals which are available to characterise a material. with respect to structure, composition, electronic and magnetic properties. It is difficult to envisage the design of advanced materials today without having these techniques available. Since the late 1940s when the electron microscope was first used as a serious tool in materials science, through the study of replicas of surfaces, the frontiers of electron microscopy have been continuously expanding. Some of the landmarks in the past are reviewed, and the power of present techniques is illustrated through some examples of applications in materials science. Comparisons with other techniques are made, and some areas where applications would be fruitful are indicated as well as where further developments in technique would be desirable, but no predictions are made about the future!