The early history and future of the SEM

The basic principles of the scanning electron microscope (SEM) were established in the 1930's and early 1940's by Knoll, and then by von Ardenne in Germany and by Zworykin, Hillier and others in America. The SEM was revived by Charles Oatley in a series of PhD projects in the Electrical Engineering Department of Cambridge University in England. The first industrial application followed from the early work of McMullan and Smith in Cambridge and was at the Pulp and Paper Institute in Canada. This was soon followed by the application of the SEM to integrated circuits at Westinghouse in America and by the availability of commercial SEMs in England and Japan. At the present time, the SEM and other microscopic and microanalytical techniques are in a worldwide state of development and are being applied in an increasing number of application areas. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.