Experimental quantification of annular dark-field images in scanning transmission electron microscopy

This paper reports on a method to obtain atomic resolution Z-contrast (high-angle annular dark-field) images with intensities normalized to the incident beam. The procedure bypasses the built-in signal processing hardware of the microscope to obtain the large dynamic range necessary for consecutive measurements of the incident beam and the intensities in the Z-contrast image. The method is also used to characterize the response of the annular dark-field detector output, including conditions that avoid saturation and result in a linear relationship between the electron flux reaching the detector and its output. We also characterize the uniformity of the detector response across its entire area and determine its size and shape, which are needed as input for image simulations. We present normalized intensity images of a SrTiO(3) single crystal as a function of thickness. Averaged, normalized atom column intensities and the background intensity are extracted from these images. The results from the approach developed here can be used for direct, quantitative comparisons with image simulations without any need for scaling.