Handbook of Sample Preparation for Scanning Electron Microscopy and X-ray Microanalysis

This Handbook is a complete guide to preparing a wide variety of specimens for the scanning electron microscope and x-ray microanalyzer. Specimens range from inorganic, organic, biological, and geological samples to materials such as metals, polymers, and semiconductors which can exist as solids, liquids, and gases. While the Handbook complements the best-selling textbook, Scanning Electron Microscopy and X-Ray Microanalysis, Third Edition, by Goldstein, et al., it is entirely self-contained and describes what is needed up to the point the sample is put into the instrument. Photomicrographs of each specimen complement the many sample preparation “recipes”. Additional chapters describe the general features of specimen preparation in relation to the different needs of scanning electron microscopes and x-ray microanalyzers, and an appendix covers chemicals and equipment applicable to any of the recipes. This authoritative yet practical Handbook is an essential reference for anyone who uses these instruments, and assumes only an elementary knowledge of preparation techniques to guide the reader through the specific protocols.

Patrick Echlin was a lecturer in the Department of Plant Sciences and Director of the Multi-Imaging Centre, School of Biological Science, University of Cambridge until he retired in 1999. He has taught for more than thirty years at the Lehigh University Microscopy School and is the author and co-auther of eight books on scanning electron microscopy and x-ray microanalysis. He is an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Microscopical Society and received the Distinguished Scientist Award in Biological Sciences from the Microscope Society of America in 2001.