Book Review
doi:10.1017/S1431927615015287
© MICROSCOPY SOCIETY OF AMERICA 2015
High-Resolution Electron Microscopy, 4th ed., John C.H. Spence, Oxford University Press,
Oxford, UK; 2013, Hardcover, 432 pp., ISBN: 978-0-19-966863-2; 3rd ed., John C.H.
Spence, Oxford University Press, 2009, Paperback, 401 pp., ISBN: 978-0-19-955275-7
We welcome the fourth edition of the high-resolution electron microscopy (HREM) book and a paperback edition of
the third edition by John C.H. Spence. To the practitioners of
electron microscopy, the HREM book is a classic that has
grown with the field as it has accompanied many through a
tremendous period of rapid progress in this field during the
past two decades. The book was first published in 1980, when
HREM was starting to be accepted by the materials research
community, but resolving the crystal lattice was at the limit
of instrument performance and interpretation of lattice
images was complicated. Consequently, it was considered a
difficult technique at that time. The circumstance had
changed considerably when the second edition of this book
was published in 1988. A new generation of microscopes
with improved optics had been developed and was available
in many laboratories. At the same time, interpretation of
HREM images was improved with the development of new
or improved algorithms and the rapid rise in the computing
power. These exciting developments were captured in the
second edition as well as the emerging applications of HREM
in quasicrystals, small particles, and surfaces in addition to
bulk materials. The third edition of the book, published in
2003, expanded the scope of the book considerably by adding
several new chapters that described succinctly the spectacular progress, made during that period, in cryomicroscopy,
scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) and
Z-contrast, super-resolution techniques, and electron
detectors. The combination of low-dose HREM techniques
and tomography especially had progressed to a level that
reconstruction of an averaged three-dimensional (3D)
molecular image could be made at subnanometer resolution.
For readers coming from a biological background, the book
gives a unique perspective on the principles of electron optics
and physics of image formation that are essential for
understanding advanced instrumentation and sophisticated
image processing. As the author comments in the Preface,
the whole agenda of electron microscopy has changed from
the imaging of “bulk” defects (such as dislocations) in
materials science by transmission electron microscopy
(TEM) in the 1970s to nanoscience, structural biology, and
aberration-corrected analytical STEM in this century. Only
the atomic resolution imaging of interfaces has remained a
constant theme over this half-century.
The paperback edition is recommended for students
and beginning researchers in TEM, who after reading the
introductory textbook by Williams and Carter (Transmission
Electron Microscopy: A Textbook for Materials Science,
Springer, 2nd ed., 2009) or Reimer and Kohl (Transmission
https://doi.org/10.1017/S1431927615015287 Published online by Cambridge University Press
Electron Microscopy: Physics of Image Formation, 5th ed.,
2008) will gain from the systematic, and in-depth, coverage
on electron optics, near-field wave propagation, Fourier
optics, coherence and high-resolution image formation and
contrast transfer function, fundamental treatment of
dynamic theory and electron scattering, and the essentials of
experimental techniques. TEM provides a versatile tool for
materials characterization and HREM is a critical part by
providing atomic scale structure information. Although a
TEM can be operated quite successfully without a deep
knowledge of lens aberrations and scattering theory, this
knowledge is required to record, interpret, and compute
atomic resolution images. The basic question is how to relate
the electron scattering signals to structure, which can only be
done under certain conditions and interpretations that are
explained in detail in the book. The simultaneous coverage of
biological imaging and STEM is especially helpful as the field
of materials research moves to combine hard and soft
materials; materials scientists especially can benefit from the
knowledge developed in biological imaging using low-dose
techniques, whereas the appreciation of electron optics and
dynamic scattering are the prerequisite for atomic structure
characterization in hard materials.
The fourth edition of the HREM book is an update that
was much anticipated for over a decade that can be justifiably
called the era of aberration correction in electron microscopy.
In this aspect, readers of the previous editions will find the
following new sections very helpful: aberration correction
(Section 2.10), extension of wave and ray aberration theory to
higher orders (Section 3.3), imaging with aberration
correction (Section 7.4), Ronchigram analysis for aberration
correction (Section 10.10), and images of nanostructures,
tomography at atomic resolution imaging in 3D and imaging
bonds between atoms (Section 5.15–17). On biological
imaging, Chapter 6 is now expanded with coverage on
low-voltage electron microscopy and radiation damage in
both organic and inorganic materials. A new section on direct
detection cameras introduce this important new development
in electron detection technology that has made immediate
impact on cryoelectron microscopy and has tremendous
potential in in situ TEM.
The demand for electron microscopy has increased
tremendously in the field of materials research as well as
in chemistry and nanotechnology. What makes HREM
especially powerful is that it is no longer a single technique
for lattice imaging as it was back in 1980. HREM now
encompasses several major techniques including STEM and
cryoelectron microscopy and it is associated with powerful
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Book Review
analytical techniques, such as electron nanodiffraction,
electron energy-loss spectroscopy/energy-dispersive X-ray
spectroscopy, holography, and diffractive imaging. Here,
again, the readers will find Chapter 13 and the references in
the entire book very helpful in the latest updates.
In summary, the book is essential reading for anyone
interested in HREM and its applications in materials
characterization. The fourth edition provides much needed
updates on aberration correction and the latest developments in electron detection technology and analytical
microscopic techniques. With the major components of
electron optics and detectors now in place and available to
the wider community of microscopists, the field of HREM is
now in a state of flux. The pace of innovation has increased
https://doi.org/10.1017/S1431927615015287 Published online by Cambridge University Press
dramatically and further developments are anticipated in the
quantification and combination of various microscopic
techniques for correlative microscopy, as well as 3D
microscopy and an expansion in applications, especially
in situ measurements and microscopy. Such developments
require the broad and in-depth knowledge that readers will
find in the HREM book.
Jian-Min Zuo
Department of Materials Science and Engineering
University of Illinois
Urbana-Champaign, IL, USA 61801