Preface


Nanoscale characterization has enabled the discovery of many novel functional materials which started from understanding important relationships between material properties and morphologies. Therefore, nanoscale characterization has become an important research topic in nanoscience. It fosters the foundation for the design of functional nanodevices and applications of these nanomaterials.
The book “Progress in Nanoscale Characterization and Manipulation” is focused on charged-particle optics and microscopy as well as their applications in materials sciences. Prof. Rongming Wang acts as editor-in-chief of this volume. This book involves many cutting-edge theoretical and methodological advances in electron microscopy and microanalysis, testifying their crucial roles in modern materials research. It will be of primary importance to all researcher who work on ultramicroscopy and/or materials research.
While nanomaterials find wider and more significant applications in almost every aspect of modern science and technology, researchers have been trying to gain detailed knowledge of novel materials with atomic (even sub-A) scale resolution that are responsible for their unique properties, including chemical composition, atomic organization, coordinates, valence states, etc. This has been driving the development of ultramicroscopy. This book addresses the growing opportunities in this field and introduces the state-of-the-art charged-particle microscopy techniques. It showcases the recent progress in scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy and helium ion microscopy including the advanced spectroscopy, spherical-corrected microscopy, focused-ion imaging and in-situ microscopy. To appreciate the synergies of the above-mentioned charged-particle methods, the common features of their optical systems are summarized in the first chapter.
Our authors are active international researchers working at the forefront of the field, while we have received direction and assistance from several senior Chinese scientists (Prof. Hengqiang Ye, Prof. Fanghua Li, Prof. Ze Zhang, Prof. Junen Yao and Prof. Xiaofeng Duan, etc.). Based on their extensive expertise in ultramicroscopy, our authors have provided many their cutting-edge research outputs and demonstrated the indispensable roles of charged-beam microscopy in the development of modern materials research. This defines the unique style of the book: an excellent integration of fundamental theories and practical applications. Therefore, it can meet the needs of a range of readers who are either working on those microscopy techniques or applying them to the investigation of advanced materials. While the development of Cs-corrected microscopy, in-situ microscopy and high-resolution spectroscopy is stepping into a golden age, it is clearly imperative to gain a big picture of the development. The book covers many timely topics and it can serve as a good reference for researchers or students working in many fields such as materials sciences, physics, chemistry, electronics, the semiconductor industry and biology.
We have received numerous constructive suggestions and comments from many colleagues. On behalf of all the editors, I would like to offer our sincere gratitude to those who have contributed to the book.
On behalf of the editors, I would like to thank all our authors. They have been working diligently. I would like to thank my fellow editors for their hard work. I hope this book can facilitate the development of microscopy techniques, inspire young researchers, and make due contributions to the field.

Prof. Rongming Wang
April,2017