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Interfaces play critical roles in materials and are usually both structurally and compositionally complex microstructural features. The precise characterization of their nature in three-dimensions at the atomic scale is one of the grand challenges for microscopy and microanalysis, as this information is crucial to establish structure–property relationships. Atom probe tomography is well suited to analyzing the chemistry of interfaces at the nanoscale. However, optimizing such microanalysis of interfaces requires great care in the implementation across all aspects of the technique from specimen preparation to data analysis and ultimately the interpretation of this information. This article provides critical perspectives on key aspects pertaining to spatial resolution limits and the issues with the compositional analysis that can limit the quantification of interface measurements. Here, we use the example of grain boundaries in steels; however, the results are applicable for the characterization of grain boundaries and transformation interfaces in a very wide range of industrially relevant engineering materials.

The present study characterizes the main deterioration mechanisms affecting the early 17th frescoes of Casa de Fresco, the only known example in Portugal of a semi-underground leisure room richly decorated with a balcony over a water well. Frescoes from the vault are at risk due to salt weathering and biodeterioration. The aim of the research was identification of the deterioration materials, determination of their origin, and their effect on the frescoes before future intervention. Scanning electron microscopy with an energy-dispersive X-ray detector (SEM-EDS) was used to determine salt morphology and microanalysis. The mineralogical characterization was performed by X-ray powder diffraction, complemented with µ-Raman and µ-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. Biological assessment was evaluated with optical microscopy and SEM-EDS. Bacterial and fungal isolation and identification were performed using standard culture media and methods according to Bergey’s Manual of Systematic Bacteriology and from the Compendium of Soil Fungi. The results show that Ca and Ca-Mg carbonates from the paint renderings are the predominant salt species affecting the site. Bacterial strains from the genera Bacillus and Pseudomonas and fungal strains from the Cladosporium spp. and Penicillium spp. were isolated in the salt formations, within and between the mortar layers. Azurite, malachite, and smalt paint layers are the most affected by the weathering conditions.

It is not easy to understand how the electron microscopes and electron microscope techniques that we know today developed from the primitive ideas of the first microscopists of the 1930s. Newcomers to the subject in particular, their time almost fully occupied with grasping practical methods and modern computing techniques, can rarely devote much attention to the history of their subject. For some, however, this is a source of frustration: If a guide to the principal stages in the development of the subject and to the main actors and their publications were available, they would find the time to study it.

This paper is closed access. This article has been published in a revised form in Microscopy and Microanalysis https://doi.org/10.1017/S143192761600711X. This version is free to view and download for private research and study only. Not for re-distribution, re-sale or use in derivative works. © Microscopy Society of America.

Conventional and highly sophisticated analytical methods (Cyria et al., 1989; Massar et al., 2012a) were used to analyze micro-structural and micro-analytical aspects of the blood of snake head fish, Channa gachua, exposed to municipal wastes and city garbage. Red (RBC) and white blood cell (WBC) counts and hemhemoglobin content were found to be higher in pollution affected fish as compared with control. Scanning electron microscopy revealed the occurrence of abnormal erythrocytes such as crenated cells, echinocytes, lobopodial projections, membrane internalization, spherocytes, ruptured cells, contracted cells, depression, and uneven elongation of erythrocyte membranes in fish inhabiting the polluted sites. Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) revealed the presence of silicon and lead in the RBCs of pollution affected fish. Significance of the study includes the highly sophisticated analytical approach, which revealed the aforementioned micro-structural abnormalities.

This article has been published in a revised form in Microscopy and Microanalysis https://doi.org/10.1017/S1431927617007802. This version is free to view and download for private research and study only. Not for re-distribution, re-sale or use in derivative works. © copyright holder.

A Microsoft Excel add-in has been developed to aid the relocation of analysis points on petrographical samples between analytical runs on different microscopes and instruments. The general procedure is as follows. Two readily identifiable reference points are defined on the sample. During the first analytical run, the positions of these reference points and of any features of interest are recorded using the co-ordinate system of this instrument. During a subsequent run, which may be on a different instrument with a different co-ordinate system, the positions of the reference points are recorded. The add-in then uses the reference point positions to calculate a set of transformations that maps the co-ordinate system of the first instrument into that of the second. These transformations are then applied to the co-ordinates of the features of interest to calculate their expected positions on the second instrument.

It is difficult to believe that I have now completed five years as the Editor-in-Chief (EIC) of Microscopy and Microanalysis (MAM) and that this issue, Volume 20(1), is the start of the 20th year of the journal. Time passes quickly when one enjoys their work, and I have certainly enjoyed interacting with the majority of the many authors, reviewers, and editors associated with MAM. During my five years as EIC, we have seen significant growth of the journal and have experienced some growing pains along the way. Despite some of these growing pains and associated problems, I believe (although obviously a biased opinion) that we have been able to significantly enhance the quality of the manuscripts we are publishing and the overall product that the members of the Microscopy Society of America (MSA) and other subscribers receive. The purpose of this editorial is to provide some details on how much MAM has grown, to describe some of the problems and solutions associated with the growth, and to provide information to prospective authors on how to improve their experience of publishing in MAM by discussing some common errors that occur during submission and review of manuscripts.

In an article published inMicroscopy and Microanalysisrecently (Jia et al., 2004), it was claimed that aberration-corrected high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) allows the quantitative measurement of oxygen concentrations in ceramic materials with atomic resolution. Similar claims have recently appeared elsewhere, based on images obtained through aberration correction (Jia et al., 2003; Jia & Urban, 2004) or very high voltages (Zhang et al., 2003). Seeing oxygen columns is a significant achievement of great importance (Spence, 2003) that will doubtlessly allow some exciting new science; however, other models could provide a better explanation for some of the experimental data than variations in the oxygen concentration. Quantification of the oxygen concentrations was attempted by comparing experimental images with simulations in which the fractional occupancy in individual oxygen columns was reduced. The results were interpreted as representing nonstoichiometry within the bulk and at grain boundaries. This is plausible because previous studies have shown that grain boundaries can be nonstoichiometric (Kim et al., 2001), and it is indeed possible that oxygen vacancies are present at boundaries or in the bulk.However, is this the only possible interpretation?We show that for the thicknesses considered a better match to the images is obtained using a simple model of surface damage in which atoms are removed from the surface, which would usually be interpreted as surface damage or local thickness variation (from ion milling, for example).

Extended abstract of a paper presented at the Pre-Meeting Congress: Materials Research in an Aberration-Free Environment, at Microscopy and Microanalysis 2004 in Savannah, Georgia, USA, July 31 and August 1, 2004.

Extended abstract of a paper presented at Microscopy and Microanalysis 2013 in Indianapolis (US).

Optical and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) of red blood cells (RBCs) of common carp, Cyprinus carpio, inhabiting a polluted lake in Northeast India revealed a number of abnormalities. About 7% of the RBC showed the presence of a micronucleus, besides the presence of some bi-nucleated and abnormally shaped nuclei. RBCs, white blood cells, and hemoglobin content were found to be reduced significantly as compared to the control. SEM showed the presence of spherocytes, early stages of echinocytes, cytoplasmic blebbing, erythrocytes with contraction from one side, abnormal shape of erythrocytes (hexagonal/pentagonal/tetragonal), development of lobopodial projections, cell rupture, membrane internalization, and formation of ring-shaped RBC. Energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) showed the presence of a considerable percentage of silicon and lead in erythrocytes of the fish collected from the polluted lake, in contrast to a negligible concentration of the two elements in control fish. Significance of the study in relation to fish health in a polluted body of water and the importance of SEM, EDS, and light microscopy in utilizing hematological parameters as pollution indicators are discussed.

Experimental plots of the fraction of detected electrons removed from the zero-loss peak, versus the fraction of incident electrons scattered outside of the objective aperture, can serve as a robust fingerprint of object-contrast in an energy filtered transmission electron microscope (EFTEM). Examples of this, along with the first in a series of models for interpreting the resulting patterns, were presented at the August 2010 meeting of the Microscope Society of America meeting in Portland, Oregon, and published in {\em Microscopy and MicroAnalysis} {\bf 16}, Supplement 2, pages 1534-1535 by Cambridge University Press., 3 pages (3 figs, 4 refs) RevTeX, cf. http://www.umsl.edu/~fraundorfp/zldeflmaps.html

This issue is dedicated to Professor Sir John Meurig Thomas for his renowned contributions to electron microscopy in the chemical sciences. It is a collection of peer-reviewed leading articles in electron microscopy, based on the presentations at the Microscopy and Microanalysis (M&M) 2000 symposium, which was held to honor Professor Thomas's exceptional scientific leadership and wide-ranging fundamental contributions in the chemical applications of electron microscopy.

Author Posting. © Microscopy Society of America, 2007. This article is posted here by permission of Cambridge University Press for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Microscopy and Microanalysis 13 Suppl. 2 (2007): 10-11, doi:10.1017/S1431927607075186.

In industrial metal-forming processes, quantitative and physical models are required to control and optimize the microstructure of the finished products. A detailed understanding of the behavior of polycrystalline materials during deformation processes is essential to develop such models. A number of instruments and analytical tools are available for deformation studies within the microscopy and microanalysis community. In a scanning electron microscope (SEM), the visualization and characterization of deformed microstructures are carried out with electron channeling contrast imaging (ECCI) and electron backscattered diffraction (EBSD). These SEM studies provide a nanoscale spatial resolution, a large field of view and statistically reliable information on a bulk specimen [1]. In this study, complex variations of backscattering intensity (IBSE) were observed in ECCI micrographs of magnesium (Mg) grains after the uniaxial hot compression test. The variations of IBSE across the ECCI micrographs were attributed to plastic deformation of the Mg grains [2]. Recovery, recrystallization and phase transformation processes occurred simultaneously during deformation at high temperature. The interactions between the three processes lead to a complex deformed microstructure consisting of dynamically recrystallized grains and precipitates. The deformed microstructure varied with different deformation variables such as temperature, strain rate and strain [3,4].

Microscopy and Microanalysis 2014, M and M 2014 -- 3 August 2014 through 7 August 2014 -- -- 111834, [No abstract available]

The Australian Microscopy and Microanalysis Research Facility (AMMRF) is a national grid of equipment, instrumentation and expertise in microscopy and microanalysis that provides nanostructural characterisation capability and services, from widely used optical, electron, X-ray and ion-beam techniques to world-leading flagship platforms. This collaborative facility, comprising a distributed network of microscopy and microanalysis core facilities spread over fourteen institutions, supports more than 3,000 researchers each year of which approximately one-third are “new users” and with indications that this is growing by 10% per annum.

In aberration-corrected transmission electron microscopy, the image contrast depends sensitively on the focus value. With the point resolution extended to an information limit of below 0.1 nm, even a focus change of as small as one nanometer could give a significant change in image contrast. Therefore, it is necessary to consider in detail the optimum focus condition in order to take full advantage of aberration-correction. In this study, the thickness dependence of the minimum contrast focus has been investigated by dynamical image simulations for amorphous model structures of carbon, germanium, and tungsten, which were constructed by molecular dynamics simulations. The calculation results show that the minimum contrast focus varies with the object thickness, supporting the use of an effective object plane close to the midplane instead of the exit plane of a sample, as suggested by Bonhomme and Beorchia [J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. 16, 705 (1983)] and Lentzen [Microscopy and Microanalysis 12, 191 (2006)]. Thus supported particles and wedge-shaped crystals with symmetrical top and bottom surfaces could be imaged at a focus condition independent of the uneven bottom face. Image simulations of crystalline samples as a function of focus and thickness show: for an object thickness of less than 10 nm, the optimum focus condition is matched better if the midplane of the object, instead of the exit plane, is chosen as reference plane.

In February 2006, in conjunction with the 19th Australian Conference on Microscopy and Microanalysis held in Sydney, the 2nd Australian Workshop on Atom Probe Tomography was convened by S.P. Ringer, M.K. Miller, D.A. Saxey, and R. Zheng at the Australian Key Centre for Microscopy and Microanalysis at The University of Sydney. The topics covered at that workshop included specimen preparation; data acquisition and data analysis methods for atom probe tomography; applications to spinodal alloys, phase transformations, light metals, atomic clustering, and detection methods, as well as future directions of the science and technology of atom probe tomography. The presentations and discussions that took place at this workshop, which was attended by more than 30 people, provided the inspiration for this special issue of Microscopy and Microanalysis.

Citation: Cerezo, A. et al. (2007). '3D atom probe analysis of quantum well and quantum dot materials', Microscopy and Microanalysis, 13 (Suppl 2), 1608-1609. [Available at http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayJournal?jid=MAM].

This is the first time that the president of a Brazilian scientific society has addressed a message through Microscopy and Microanalysis. I would like to thank Barbara Reine, News and Commentary Editor, and Dale Johnson, Microscopy and Microanalysis Editor-in-Chief, for giving me the honor of this inaugural opportunity.

Extended abstract of a paper presented at Microscopy and Microanalysis 2013 in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA, August 4 – August 8, 2013.

Extended abstract of a paper presented at Microscopy and Microanalysis 2013 in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA, August 4 – August 8, 2013.

Extended abstract of a paper presented at Microscopy and Microanalysis 2013 in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA, August 4 – August 8, 2013.

In this article, two simple methods, evaporation-condensation and catalytic thermal evaporation, were used to investigate the synthesis of CdS nanostructures for nanoscale optoelectronic applications. To understand their growth mechanisms, various electron microscopy and microanalysis techniques were utilized in characterizing their morphologies, internal structures, growth directions and elemental compositions. The electron microscopy study reveals that when using the evaporation-condensation method, branched CdS nanorods and self-assembled arrays of CdS nanorods were synthesized at 800°C and 1000°C, respectively. Instead of morphological differences, both types of CdS nanorods grew along the [0001] direction. However, when using the catalytic thermal evaporation method (Au as the catalyst), patterned CdS nanowires and nanobelts were formed at the temperature region of 500–600°C and 600–750°C, respectively. Their growth direction was along the direction [10 1 0] instead of [0001]. Based on the microscopy and microanalysis results, we propose some growth mechanisms in relation to the growth processes of those exotic CdS nanostructures.

Extended abstract of a paper presented at Microscopy and Microanalysis 2011 in Nashville, Tennessee, USA, August 7–August 11, 2011.

Extended abstract of a paper presented at Microscopy and Microanalysis 2010 in Portland, Oregon, USA, August 1 – August 5, 2010.

Extended abstract of a paper presented at Microscopy and Microanalysis 2010 in Portland, Oregon, USA, August 1 – August 5, 2010.

Extended abstract of a paper presented at Microscopy and Microanalysis 2010 in Portland, Oregon, USA, August 1 – August 5, 2010.

Extended abstract of a paper presented at Microscopy and Microanalysis 2010 in Portland, Oregon, USA, August 1 – August 5, 2010.

Extended abstract of a paper presented at Microscopy and Microanalysis 2009 in Richmond, Virginia, USA, July 26 – July 30, 2009

The annual Microscopy & Microanalysis meeting has proven to be the premiere meeting for scientists, technologists, and students who use microscopy or microanalysis in their research. Microscopy & Microanalysis 2009 will be no exception! The 2009 Executive Program Committee, consisting of co-chairs from each of the participating societies, has assembled a diverse and comprehensive program that will address applications in both the biological and physical sciences as well as recent and emerging trends in instrumentation and techniques. As in 2008, special emphasis has been placed on attracting fresh content and new faces. Several symposia have been designed to expand beyond the boundaries of the interdisciplinary nature of the Microscopy & Microanalysis meetings, reflecting the increasing need for collaborations between physical and biological sciences.

Extended abstract of a paper presented at Microscopy and Microanalysis 2008 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA, August 3 – August 7, 2008

Extended abstract of a paper presented at Microscopy and Microanalysis 2008 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA, August 3 – August 7, 2008

Extended abstract of a paper presented at Microscopy and Microanalysis 2008 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA, August 3 – August 7, 2008

Extended abstract of a paper presented at Microscopy and Microanalysis 2008 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA, August 3 – August 7, 2008

Extended abstract of a paper presented at Microscopy and Microanalysis 2008 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA, August 3 – August 7, 2008

a School of Applied Sciences, RMIT University, 124 La Trobe Street, Melbourne 3001, Australia b Electronic Materials Engineering Department, Research School of Physical Sciences and Engineering, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 0200, Australia c Australian National University Electron Microscopy Unit / Australian Microscopy and Microanalysis Research Facility, Canberra, ACT 0200, Australia

Extended abstract of a paper presented at Microscopy and Microanalysis 2008 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA, August 3 – August 7, 2008

Extended abstract of a paper presented at Microscopy and Microanalysis 2008 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA, August 3 – August 7, 2008

Message from the President; and lists of the executive committee, non-executive officers, AMMS Inc. state representatives, past AMMS presidents, and AMMS awards.