Quantitative analysis with the electron microprobe. The first 50 years and beyond

Abstract

The late Raymond Castaing is rightly regarded as the ‘father’ of microprobe analysis and there have been many thousands of publications on the subject in the 50 years since his work began. This paper attempts to summarise the way in which his work launched the subject of quantitative analysis and the major trends which have taken place since. The triennial series of ‘ICXOM’ meetings, which started in 1956, have followed these trends and are well complemented by the annual meetings of the Microbeam Analysis Societies in Europe and the USA. The future will see more emphasis on ease of use and reliability of the result. Driven by user demand, and helped by ever-increasing computer power, many instruments are now equipped with an intelligent interface to guide the user in setting up the instrument, running the experiment and processing the results. Soon this will incorporate a ‘knowledge base’ to draw together the experience of experts worldwide. In 50 years the subject has made some surprising leaps forward, and will continue to surprise us for many years to come.

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