This volume provides a comprehensive and up to the minute review of the techniques used to determine the nature and composition of surfaces. Originally published as a special issue of the Pergamon journal Vacuum, it comprises a carefully edited collection of chapters written by specialists in each of the techniques and includes coverage of the electron and ion spectroscopies, as well as the atom-imaging methods such as the atom probe field ion microscope and the scanning tunnelling microscope. Surface science is an important area of study since the outermost surface layers play a crucial role in processses such as catalysis, adhesion, wear, and corrosion, with applications in metallurgy, thin films and surface coatings, the chemicals and polymer industries, and microelectronics, to name a few. This book covers those techniques used routinely for surface analysis as well as those employed for more fundamental scientific studies. It will be of interest to university research workers, graduate students and to industrial scientists solving practical problems.