Tools for probing `atomic' action [electron microscopes]

Instruments that can "see" the atom are becoming essential to fabricate and diagnose electron devices , integrated circuits as well as discrete devices. Such resolution was unheard of only a few years ago. But the growth of thin films by vapor deposition, patterning by electron-beam lithography, and doping by low-energy ion implantation have opened the way to microelectronics on an incredibly fine scale. As a result, new devices like the modulation-doped field-effect transistor (MODFET) now control the transport of electrons through layers only a few atoms thick.