The EMAS Regional Workshops are biennial events designed to provide postgraduate-level and research workers in materials science, material engineering and related subjects, with basic knowledge of the capabilities and limitations of microbeam analysis. The 2018 meeting will focus on the specific requirements of microbeam analysis as utilised by the Earth Science community. The meeting is organised in collaboration with the Mineralogical Society of GB and Ireland who presented the workshop “Microbeam Techniques in Geosciences” at Imperial College, London in 1998. Here we revisit the subject to look at the range of techniques now available and the technological advances made in the intervening two decades.
Topics: Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) – Imaging and X-ray microanalysis, Electron probe microanalysis (EPMA), Cathodoluminescence (CL), Electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD), Transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICPMS), Secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS), NanoSIMS, Synchrotron-based microanalysis (XANES, XRF), Sample preparation and ion beam preparation including focussed ion beam (FIB), Raman spectroscopy, Fourier-transform infra-red spectroscopy (FT-IR), Micro-computed tomography (MicroCT), Atom probe tomography (APT)