Many books are available that detail the basic principles of the
different methods of surface characterization. On the other hand, the
scientific literature provides a resource of how individual pieces of
research are conducted by particular labo- tories. Between these two
extremes the literature is thin but it is here that the present volume
comfortably sits. Both the newcomer and the more mature scientist will
find in these chapters a wealth of detail as well as advice and general
guidance of the principal phenomena relevant to the study of real
samples. In the analysis of samples, practical analysts have fairly
simple models of how everything works. Superimposed on this ideal world
is an understanding of how the parameters of the measurement method, the
instrumentation, and the char- teristics of the sample distort this
ideal world into something less precise, less controlled, and less
understood. The guidance given in these chapters allows the scientist to
understand how to obtain the most precise and understood measu- ments
that are currently possible and, where there are inevitable problems, to
have clear guidance as the extent of the problem and its likely
behavior.