Glossary of SEM Terms

Introduction

“Glossary of SEM Terms” has been launched, aiming to assist understanding of the basic technical terms of theories, instrumentation including electron guns, lenses, detectors, chambers, observation and analysis methods, and specimen preparation techniques, for the scanning electron microscope (SEM) field. The initial version of this Glossary contains approximately 50 terms. We continually strive to add other core terms and new terms in considering recent developments in the SEM field. We explain each term in an easy-to-understand manner using illustrations and SEM images. For the terms that are used also in other scientific fields, we focus the explanations in conformity with SEM. For further comprehension, references to textbooks and corresponding literatures are recommended.
We hope that this Glossary of SEM Terms would help better understanding of SEM techniques and its effective use for many SEM users.

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