SEM stands for scanning electron microscope. The SEM is a microscope that uses electrons instead of light to form an image. Since their development in the early 1950's, scanning electron microscopes ...

A new generation of electron microscopes is able to explore the microscopic properties of materials and devices as diverse as transistors, turbine blades and interfacial superconductors.

The limit of resolution of the transmission electron microscope is now less than 1 nm. The TEM has revealed structures in cells that are not visible with the light microscope.