* Expert, up-to-date guidance on the appropriate techniques of local chemical analysis

* Comprehensive. This volume is an ideal starting point for material research and development, bringing together a number of techniques usually only found in isolation

* Recent examples of the applications of techniques are provided in all cases

Helping to solve the problems of materials scientists in academia and industry, this book offers guidance on appropriate techniques of chemical analysis of materials at the local level, down to the atomic scale. Comparisons are made between various techniques in terms of the nature of the probe employed. The detection limit and the optimum spatial resolution is also considered, as well as the range of atomic number that may be identified and the precision and methods of calibration, where appropriate.