On-line alignment and astigmatism correction using a TV and personal computer

Author(s):  
F. Hosokawa ◽  
Y. Kondo ◽  
T. Honda ◽  
Y. Ishida ◽  
M. Kersker

High-resolution transmission electron microscopy must attain utmost accuracy in the alignment of incident beam direction and in astigmatism correction, and that, in the shortest possible time. As a method to eliminate this troublesome work, an automatic alignment system using the Slow-Scan CCD camera has been introduced recently. In this method, diffractograms of amorphous images are calculated and analyzed to detect misalignment and astigmatism automatically. In the present study, we also examined diffractogram analysis using a personal computer and digitized TV images, and found that TV images provided enough quality for the on-line alignment procedure of high-resolution work in TEM. Fig. 1 shows a block diagram of our system. The averaged image is digitized by a TV board and is transported to a computer memory, then a diffractogram is calculated using an FFT board, and the feedback parameters which are determined by diffractogram analysis are sent to the microscope(JEM- 2010) through the RS232C interface. The on-line correction system has the following three modes.

Author(s):  
T. Zheng ◽  
J. Murray Gibson

Due to the multiple scattering and interference intrinsic in high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) images, interpretation of HRTEM images is difficult. In order to interpret contrast details in a HRTEM image, simulated images for various proposed structure have to be obtained until good agreement is reached. The usual multislice method for image simulation is extremely time-consuming and has to be repeated for each structure under consideration. Also, the experimental parameters, for example objective lens defocus and sample thickness etc., are related to image details in HRTEM images. Knowledge of these experimental parameters is essential for the image interpretation and is important for quantitative interface analysis, for example chemical mapping by Ourmazd and colleagues. Thust and Urban have reviewed the conventional method for measuring sample thickness and objective lens defocus value and proposed a method for sample thickness and defocus determination. But their method requires synchronous sampling of experimental images under consideration, which is not always possible for on-line digitized images in order to retain the resolution. And experimental and simulated images have to be perfectly aligned.


Author(s):  
Michael A. O'Keefe

The original high-resolution transmission electron microscope (HRTEM) image simulation program was written as a tool to confirm interpretation of HRTEM images of niobium oxides. Thorough testing on known structures showed that image simulation could reliably duplicate the imaging process occurring in the HRTEM, and could thus be confidently used to interpret images of unknown structures. Mainstream application of image simulation to routine structure determination by HRTEM was ushered in by the establishment of the wide applicability of the SHRLI (simulated high-resolution lattice image) programs. Structure determination of the mineral takéuchiite by HRTEM and image simulation was the first such determination accepted by the KJCr without x-ray data. Of course, once the reliability of image simulation had been established, it was realized that the technique could be put to work for applications other than structure determination. Early on, simulations were used to explore various HRTEM imaging parameters, including specimen ionicity, validity of the projection approximation, and the resolutionlimiting effects of incident-beam convergence. Since the inception of HRTEM image simulation, its range of uses has continued to expand, and so has the number of programs available; distribution of the SHRLI code spawned improved versions as well as some new programs.


Author(s):  
M. Pan ◽  
O.L. Krivanek

Spherical aberration coefficient (Cs) of the objective lens and electron wavelength ultimately determine the point-resolution of a high resolution electron microscope (HREM). Accurate measurement of Cs has become increasingly critical for reconstruction of structural information well beyond the point-resolution by means of either electron holography or focal series methods with a field emission gun (FEG) microscope. There are two main existing procedures for Cs measurement, i.e. (1) using diffractograms from a thin amorphous material, and (2) using beam-tilt-induced image displacement (BID). Since these procedures generally involve intensive data measurement, it is highly desirable to have an automated procedure. With an image pickup system such as CCD camera and appropriate software, we have developed an automated procedure for on-line Cs measurement. The procedure is based on analyzing diffractograms from a thin amorphous material such as amorphous carbon or germanium. The use of CCD camera allows for on-line measurement, and also for magnification to be calibrated with high precision, which is critical in Cs measurement.


2011 ◽  
Vol 17 (S2) ◽  
pp. 814-815
Author(s):  
Y Jia ◽  
B Mollon ◽  
P Mooney ◽  
M Pan ◽  
B McGinn ◽  
...  

Extended abstract of a paper presented at Microscopy and Microanalysis 2011 in Nashville, Tennessee, USA, August 7–August 11, 2011.


Author(s):  
A. V. Crewe

The high resolution STEM is now a fact of life. I think that we have, in the last few years, demonstrated that this instrument is capable of the same resolving power as a CEM but is sufficiently different in its imaging characteristics to offer some real advantages.It seems possible to prove in a quite general way that only a field emission source can give adequate intensity for the highest resolution^ and at the moment this means operating at ultra high vacuum levels. Our experience, however, is that neither the source nor the vacuum are difficult to manage and indeed are simpler than many other systems and substantially trouble-free.


Author(s):  
J. S. Wall ◽  
J. P. Langmore ◽  
H. Isaacson ◽  
A. V. Crewe

The scanning transmission electron microscope (STEM) constructed by the authors employs a field emission gun and a 1.15 mm focal length magnetic lens to produce a probe on the specimen. The aperture size is chosen to allow one wavelength of spherical aberration at the edge of the objective aperture. Under these conditions the profile of the focused spot is expected to be similar to an Airy intensity distribution with the first zero at the same point but with a peak intensity 80 per cent of that which would be obtained If the lens had no aberration. This condition is attained when the half angle that the incident beam subtends at the specimen, 𝛂 = (4𝛌/Cs)¼


Author(s):  
James F. Hainfeld ◽  
Kyra M. Alford ◽  
Mathias Sprinzl ◽  
Valsan Mandiyan ◽  
Santa J. Tumminia ◽  
...  

The undecagold (Au11) cluster was used to covalently label tRNA molecules at two specific ribonucleotides, one at position 75, and one at position 32 near the anticodon loop. Two different Au11 derivatives were used, one with a monomaleimide and one with a monoiodacetamide to effect efficient reactions.The first tRNA labeled was yeast tRNAphe which had a 2-thiocytidine (s2C) enzymatically introduced at position 75. This was found to react with the iodoacetamide-Aun derivative (Fig. 1) but not the maleimide-Aun (Fig. 2). Reaction conditions were 37° for 16 hours. Addition of dimethylformamide (DMF) up to 70% made no improvement in the labeling yield. A high resolution scanning transmission electron micrograph (STEM) taken using the darkfield elastically scattered electrons is shown in Fig. 3.


Author(s):  
H. Tochigi ◽  
H. Uchida ◽  
S. Shirai ◽  
K. Akashi ◽  
D. J. Evins ◽  
...  

A New High Excitation Objective Lens (Second-Zone Objective Lens) was discussed at Twenty-Sixth Annual EMSA Meeting. A new commercially available Transmission Electron Microscope incorporating this new lens has been completed.Major advantages of the new instrument allow an extremely small beam to be produced on the specimen plane which minimizes specimen beam damages, reduces contamination and drift.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document