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Updated: May 30, 2026
08:04
Preparation and Observation of Thick Biological Samples by Scanning Transmission Electron Tomography
Published on: March 12, 2017
New views of materials through aberration-corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy
1Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Materials Science and Technology Division, Oak Ridge, TN 37830-6071, USA. pennycooksj@ornl.gov
Journal of Electron Microscopy
|August 17, 2011
Summary
Advanced scanning transmission electron microscopes (STEM) now offer record resolution and high efficiency for spectroscopy. These improvements provide new insights into materials physics, particularly complex oxides.
Area of Science:
- Materials Science
- Physics
- Microscopy
Background:
- Scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) capabilities have been significantly advanced.
- Correction of third-order and fifth-order aberrations has been successfully achieved.
- These advancements enhance resolution and spectroscopic efficiency.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review recent advancements in STEM technology.
- To highlight the impact of aberration correction on STEM performance.
- To explore new research directions enabled by enhanced STEM capabilities, focusing on complex oxides.
Main Methods:
- Review of existing literature and case studies.
- Focus on aberration correction techniques in STEM.
- Analysis of applications in materials physics, particularly complex oxides.
Main Results:
- Achieved record resolution in STEM imaging.
- Enabled near 100% efficiency for electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS).
- Facilitated higher currents for two-dimensional spectrum imaging.
Conclusions:
- STEM's intrinsic advantages (incoherent imaging, simultaneous data collection) are now leveraged more effectively.
- New insights into materials physics are being generated, especially in complex oxides.
- Future research directions are opening up due to these technological leaps.
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