MICROSCOPY WITH SLOW-ELECTRONS

Low energy microscopy is treated as the low energy limit of electron m icroscopy as a whole in all its basic branches, i.e. the emission, tra nsmission and scanning microscopies. The instrumental and methodologic al aspects are briefly discussed. These include the interaction of ele ctrons with a solid, the contrast formation mechanisms, the instrument ation problems and actual progress achieved in all three microscopies, from the point of view of lowering the energy of electrons, impacting or leaving the specimen, down to the low energy range below 5 keV and the very low energy range below 50 eV.