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Related Concept Videos

Overview of Microscopy Techniques01:22

Overview of Microscopy Techniques

The early pioneers of microscopy opened a window into the invisible world of microorganisms. In 1830, Joseph Jackson Lister created an essentially modern light microscope. The 20th century saw the development of microscopes that leveraged nonvisible light, such as fluorescence microscopy that uses an ultraviolet light source and electron microscopy that uses short-wavelength electron beams. These advances significantly improved magnification, image resolution, and contrast. By comparison, the...
Overview of Electron Microscopy01:25

Overview of Electron Microscopy

The wavelengths of visible light ultimately limit the maximum theoretical resolution of images created by light microscopes. Most light microscopes can only magnify 1000X, and a few can magnify up to 1500X. Electrons, like electromagnetic radiation, can behave like waves, but with wavelengths of 0.005 nm, they produce significantly greater resolution up to 0.05 nm as compared to 500 nm for visible light. An electron microscope (EM) can create a sharp image that is magnified up to 2,000,000X.
Super-resolution Fluorescence Microscopy01:37

Super-resolution Fluorescence Microscopy

Super-resolution fluorescence microscopy (SRFM) provides a better resolution than conventional fluorescence microscopy by reducing the point spread function (PSF). PSF is the light intensity distribution from a point that causes it to appear blurred. Due to PSF, each fluorescing point appears bigger than its actual size, and it is the PSF interference of nearby fluorophores that causes the blurred image. Various approaches to achieving higher resolution through SRFM have recently been developed.
Scanning Electron Microscopy01:07

Scanning Electron Microscopy

A scanning electron microscope (SEM) is used to study the surface features of a sample by using an electron beam that scans the sample surface in a two-dimensional manner. Typically, areas between ~1 centimeter to 5 micrometers in width can be imaged. SEM can be used to image bacteria, viruses, tissues as well as larger samples like insects. Conventional SEM gives a magnification ranging from 20X to 30,000X and spatial resolution of 50 to 100 nanometers.
Fundamental Principles
Accelerated...
Transmission Electron Microscopy01:15

Transmission Electron Microscopy

In 1931, physicist Ernst Ruska—building on the idea that magnetic fields can direct an electron beam just as lenses can direct a beam of light in an optical microscope—developed the first prototype of the electron microscope. This development led to the development of the field of electron microscopy. In the transmission electron microscope (TEM), electrons are produced by a hot tungsten element and accelerated by a potential difference in an electron gun, which gives them up to 400 keV in...
Electron Microscope Tomography and Single-particle Reconstruction01:07

Electron Microscope Tomography and Single-particle Reconstruction

Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) can be used to determine the 3D structure of biological samples with the help of techniques such as electron microscope tomography and single-particle reconstruction. While single-particle reconstruction can examine macromolecules and macromolecular complexes in vitro conditions only, tomography permits the study of cell components or small cells in vivo.
Electron Tomography
Electron tomography can be performed either in TEM or STEM (scanning transmission...

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Picometer-Precision Atomic Position Tracking through Electron Microscopy
15:04

Picometer-Precision Atomic Position Tracking through Electron Microscopy

Published on: July 3, 2021

Atomic-resolution imaging with a sub-50-pm electron probe.

Rolf Erni1, Marta D Rossell, Christian Kisielowski

  • 1National Center for Electron Microscopy, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720, USA.

Physical Review Letters
|April 28, 2009
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Researchers achieved sub-50 picometer resolution using aberration-corrected transmission electron microscopy. This breakthrough in electron probe imaging provides direct evidence for resolving atomic-scale crystal structures.

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Single-Digit Nanometer Electron-Beam Lithography with an Aberration-Corrected Scanning Transmission Electron Microscope
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Last Updated: Jun 23, 2026

Picometer-Precision Atomic Position Tracking through Electron Microscopy
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Single-Digit Nanometer Electron-Beam Lithography with an Aberration-Corrected Scanning Transmission Electron Microscope
10:25

Single-Digit Nanometer Electron-Beam Lithography with an Aberration-Corrected Scanning Transmission Electron Microscope

Published on: September 14, 2018

Area of Science:

  • Materials Science
  • Physics
  • Nanotechnology

Background:

  • High-resolution imaging is crucial for understanding materials at the atomic scale.
  • Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) has advanced significantly with aberration correction.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To demonstrate sub-50 picometer (pm) resolution in imaging crystal spacing.
  • To provide direct experimental evidence of this unprecedented resolution limit.

Main Methods:

  • Utilizing a highly coherent focused electron probe in a fifth-order aberration-corrected TEM.
  • Calculating the electron probe's theoretical resolution based on geometrical source size and lens aberrations.
  • Imaging a Germanium (Ge) crystal structure.

Main Results:

  • Achieved experimental resolution of 47 pm crystal spacing.
  • Observed the 47 pm spacing in Ge 114 with 11%-18% contrast.
  • Provided the first direct evidence for sub-50 pm resolution in annular dark-field scanning TEM (ADF-STEM) imaging.

Conclusions:

  • Demonstrated the capability of advanced aberration-corrected TEM to achieve sub-50 pm resolution.
  • Confirmed theoretical predictions for electron probe resolution.
  • Opened new avenues for atomic-scale materials characterization.