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Transmission Electron Microscopy

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...

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Updated: Jun 11, 2026

Probing Structural and Dynamic Properties of Trafficking Subcellular Nanostructures by Spatiotemporal Fluctuation Spectroscopy

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Fluctuation transmission electron microscopy: detecting nanoscale order in disordered structures.

Bong-Sub Lee¹, Stephen G Bishop, John R Abelson

¹Department of Materials Science and Engineering and the Coordinated Sciences Laboratory, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1-109 Engineering Sciences Building, 1101 W. Springfield Ave., Urbana, IL 61801, USA.

Chemphyschem : a European Journal of Chemical Physics and Physical Chemistry

|July 13, 2010

Summary

Medium-range order exists in disordered materials but is hard to detect. Fluctuation transmission electron microscopy (FTEM) reveals this nanoscale structure, advancing the study of amorphous materials.

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Area of Science:

Materials Science
Condensed Matter Physics
Nanotechnology

Background:

Disordered materials often exhibit nanoscale structural order (1-3 nm), termed medium-range order.
Conventional diffraction methods typically fail to detect this medium-range order.
Understanding nanoscale order is crucial for material properties and development.

Purpose of the Study:

To introduce and highlight the capabilities of Fluctuation Transmission Electron Microscopy (FTEM).
To demonstrate FTEM's effectiveness in detecting and analyzing medium-range order in various disordered materials.
To showcase FTEM's potential for advancing the study of amorphous structures and nucleation.

Main Methods:

Utilizing Fluctuation Transmission Electron Microscopy (FTEM) for structural analysis.
Applying statistical analysis to nanodiffraction patterns and dark-field images obtained from TEM.
Extending the fluctuation principle to X-ray and visible light studies for longer length scales.

Main Results:

FTEM successfully detected medium-range order in disordered materials, which is often missed by conventional methods.
Demonstrated the development of nanoscale nuclei in amorphous chalcogenides, aligning with theoretical predictions.
Revealed the impact of preparation methods on the medium-range order of amorphous semiconductors and metals.

Conclusions:

FTEM is a powerful technique for characterizing medium-range order in disordered materials at the nanoscale.
The fluctuation principle offers a versatile approach for studying structural order across different length scales.
Advancements in FTEM theory and practice promise deeper insights into amorphous structures and nucleation processes.