SEM Short Courses for Industry: the Lehigh Microscopy School as an example

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Short courses in scanning electron microscopy (SEM) can quickly sharpen practical skills for industrial microscopists. The SEM and the energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometer (EDS) together constitute one of the most powerful and versatile instruments available for solving industrial problems, but interpreting images and spectra is not quite as simple as acquiring them. Applications of SEM span many disciplines, and each application may require knowledge of different aspects of the microscope, and of the industrial problem at hand, to successfully interpret the images and data obtained. Regardless of the problem, whether transistors or trachea cells, the interpretation of SEM images relies upon the microscopist's understanding the fundamentals of image formation as well as the practical aspects of specimen preparation and microscope operation. Many people using SEMs today have not taken any courses beyond the on-site and demo-lab instruction provided by SEM vendors. Equipment manufacturers provide excellent training on how to use the knobs and menus on the SEM to produce useful images and data via the embedded software functions. Since there are many options and setup procedures, these instrument-specific courses are valuable for the novice and expert alike.