An electron microscope is a microscope that uses a beam of accelerated electrons as

a source of illumination. As the wavelength of an electron can be up to 100,000 times as

short as that of visible light photons, electron microscopes have a higher resolving
power than light microscopes and can reveal the structure of smaller objects.
Electron microscopes use shaped magnetic fields to form electron optical lens systems
that are analogous to the glass lenses of an optical light microscope.
Electron microscopes are used to investigate the ultra structure of a wide range of
biological and inorganic specimens including microorganisms, cells,
large molecules, biopsy samples, metals, and crystals.
Types:
Transmission electron microscope (TEM)
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The original form of the electron microscope, the transmission electron
microscope (TEM), uses a high voltage electron beam to illuminate the specimen and
create an image. The electron beam is produced by an electron gun. The electron beam
is transmitted through the specimen that is in part transparent to electrons and in
part scatters them out of the beam. When it emerges from the specimen, the electron
beam carries information about the structure of the specimen that is magnified by
the objective lens system of the microscope.
Transmission electron microscopes are often used in electron diffraction mode.
One major disadvantage of the transmission electron microscope is the need for
extremely thin sections of the specimens, typically about 100 nanometers.

Scanning electron microscope (SEM)]

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The SEM produces images by probing the specimen with a focused electron beam that
is scanned across a rectangular area of the specimen. When the electron beam
interacts with the specimen, it loses energy by a variety of mechanisms. The lost energy
is converted into alternative forms such as heat, emission of low-energy secondary
electrons and high-energy backscattered electrons, light emission or X-ray emission, all
of which provide signals carrying information about the properties of the specimen
surface, such as its topography and composition. The image displayed by an SEM
maps the varying intensity of any of these signals into the image in a position
corresponding to the position of the beam on the specimen when the signal was
generated.
Reflection electron microscope (REM)
In the reflection electron microscope (REM) as in the TEM, an electron beam is
incident on a surface but instead of using the transmission (TEM) or secondary
electrons (SEM), the reflected beam of elastically scattered electrons is detected. This
technique is typically coupled with reflection high energy electron diffraction .