Journal of Electron Microscopy Advance Access originally published online on August 25, 2005
Journal of Electron Microscopy 2005 54(3):151-162; doi:10.1093/jmicro/dfi038
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The MIDAS project at ASU: John Cowley's vision and practical results
1 Department of Physics and Astronomy, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287-1504, USA, 2 Center for Solid State Science, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287-1704, USA, 3 Department of Physics, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby BC, Canada V5A 1S6 and 4 Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Sussex, Brighton BN1 9QH, UK
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: john.venables{at}asu.edu
An overview of the conception and development of the MIDAS system at Arizona State University is given: a Microscope for Imaging, Diffraction and Analysis of Surfaces. John Cowley's vision in the early 1980s was ambitious and far-reaching, and it was because of him the authors came to ASU. We were centrally involved in the design and implementation of MIDAS from the mid 1980s onwards; the novel design features are briefly reviewed. Practical results obtained using this instrument are listed, and the scope for future development and applications are indicated. While it is clear that many new results have been demonstrated, even more possibilities still remain to be explored. Some comments are made about the feasibility of such developments in the light of competing instrumentation.
Keywords UHV electron microscopy, SEM/STEM, secondary and Auger electrons, nanofabrication, diffraction studies, surfaces, crystal growth, small particle catalysts, magnetic materials
Received 3 February 2005, accepted 6 March 2005