This account gives an outline of the work done in the Department of Physics
, University of York since 1965, The Surface Physics Group has been particu
larly active in the development and application of electron probes of solid
surfaces with strong emphasis upon low-energy electron diffraction and sca
nning electron microscopy using Anger electrons to form images. A scanning
Auger microscope using multi-imaging (MULSAM) has been particularly fruitfu
l for the study of a variety of heterogeneous materials. Examples are given
of the application of MULSAM to the minimization of topographic contrast a
rtefacts, to the study of multilayers of magnetic materials, to the charact
erization of very rough PtRh catalyst surfaces, to the interpretation of th
e shapes of electron spectra and to the angular dependence of both Auger el
ectron and energy-dispersive x-ray signals. Copyright (C) 2000 John Wiley &
Sons, Ltd.