02/26/2004 -
Scanning Electron Microscopy and X-Ray Microanalysis, Third Edition (2003)
by Joseph Goldstein, Dale Newbury, David Joy, Charles Lyman, Patrick Echlin, Eric Lifshin, Linda Sawyer, and Joseph Michael
ISBN 0-306-47292-9. Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers, New York. 2003. Hardcover. 586 pages. $75.
| REVIEWED BY: | Siddhartha Das, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur
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When the first edition of this multi-authored book came out in 1981, it was an instant success. Authors have been revising the text continuously since then. The third edition of this highly acclaimed text book has been extensively revised, and includes a compact disk (CD) containing a database of useful parameters for scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and x-ray microanalysis calculation, and enhancing the text chapters. Numerous color images related to stereomicroscopy and compositional mapping are also included in this CD.
This book can be divided into three parts: scanning electron microscopy, x-ray microanalysis, and sample preparation. Five chapters are included in each part. The first five chapters on SEM are quite extensive and easy to follow, with informative figures. Chapter 3 deals with electron beam-specimen interaction. However, only secondary and back-scattered electron signals are discussed here. Perhaps in this chapter it would have been better to discuss other signals generated during such interaction. Chapter 5 is new, addressing special topics in SEM (e.g., high-resolution imaging, stereomicroscopy, environmental SEM, special contrast mechanisms such as electric field and magnetic field, and electron back scattering diffraction). The most important recent development is the variable-pressure scanning electron microscope, which allows the examination of surfaces of almost any specimen, wet or dry, because the environment around the specimen no longer has to be at high vacuum. This topic is discussed extensively in Chapter 5.
Chapters 6 to 10 feature x-ray microanalysis, including fundamentals of x-ray generation and related materials, x-ray spectral measurements for both energy dispersive spectroscopy and wavelength dispersive spectroscopy, and qualitative and quantitative x-ray analysis. Chapter 10 is new, covering special topics in electron beam x-ray microanalysis (e.g., analyses involving thin film, particles, rough surfaces, beam-sensitive samples, and light element analysis). If the operator is not very careful, a great deal of error can be introduced during the EDS analysis of particles. The section on particle analysis is superbly written.
One of the strong points of this text book is the section on specimen preparation. Chapters 11 to 13 deal with specimen preparation for metals, ceramics, rocks, minerals, electronic materials, particles and fibers, polymers, and biological materials. Low-temperature specimen preparation and charge elimination for non-conducting specimens are discussed in Chapters 14 and 15, respectively.
Each chapter has reasonable numbers of references and the subject index of this book is quite extensive. This invaluable book is written so students will find it to be an excellent textbook and researchers will find it a perfect companion for laboratory work. |
