Transmission electron microscopy has undergone a true revolution over the last two decades. Aberration-correction, progress in detector technology for both imaging and spectroscopy, developments in low and distributed dose techniques have all contributed to spurring what could be arguably described as a new era in nano-scale materials characterization. It is now possible to detect quantitatively what atoms are where, often with single atom sensitivity and in some cases in three dimensions. Spectroscopy techniques can then reveal the chemical and bonding environment of materials down to the single atom level. Such powerful techniques are of course invaluable in the field of semiconductor science, where the design of novel materials and the tailoring of their properties for increasingly demanding applications rely on controlling structure and chemistry at the atomic level.This special issue, devised under the …