High spatial resolution studies of surfaces and small particles using electron beam techniques

A brief review is given of studies of surfaces and small particles using electron beam techniques. The principal tools are secondary, Auger and backscattered electrons, either energy-filtered using various types of analyzers, or as a stronger signal with coarser energy filtering. These tools have been deployed in wide-beam surface science instruments, but also increasingly in scanning electron and scanning transmission electron microscopes, especially in ultra-high vacuum instruments capable of analyzing clean surfaces. The different choices that need to be made are illustrated with examples of clean surfaces, thin films and catalyst particles at high spatial resolution.