RADIATION DAMAGE AND CHROMATIC ABERRATION PRODUCED BY INELASTIC SCATTERING OF ELECTRONS IN THE ELECTRON MICROSCOPE: STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

1978 ◽  
Vol 306 (1 Short Wavelen) ◽  
pp. 3-13 ◽  
Author(s):  
V. E. Cosslett
Author(s):  
Richard E. Hartman ◽  
Roberta S. Hartman

The common assumption that in the electron microscope there is a minimum, irreducible, dose-dependent damage to the specimen caused by inelastic scattering of electrons implies that such damage results from a one - step process. We now have evidence that this assumption is open to serious question.


Author(s):  
D. L. Misell

In the electron microscopy of biological sections the adverse effect of chromatic aberration on image resolution is well known. In this paper calculations are presented for the inelastic and elastic image intensities using a wave-optical formulation. Quantitative estimates of the deterioration in image resolution as a result of chromatic aberration are presented as an alternative to geometric calculations. The predominance of inelastic scattering in the unstained biological and polymeric materials is shown by the inelastic to elastic ratio, I/E, within an objective aperture of 0.005 rad for amorphous carbon of a thickness, t=50nm, typical of biological sections; E=200keV, I/E=16.


Author(s):  
K. Shibatomi ◽  
T. Yamanoto ◽  
H. Koike

In the observation of a thick specimen by means of a transmission electron microscope, the intensity of electrons passing through the objective lens aperture is greatly reduced. So that the image is almost invisible. In addition to this fact, it have been reported that a chromatic aberration causes the deterioration of the image contrast rather than that of the resolution. The scanning electron microscope is, however, capable of electrically amplifying the signal of the decreasing intensity, and also free from a chromatic aberration so that the deterioration of the image contrast due to the aberration can be prevented. The electrical improvement of the image quality can be carried out by using the fascionating features of the SEM, that is, the amplification of a weak in-put signal forming the image and the descriminating action of the heigh level signal of the background. This paper reports some of the experimental results about the thickness dependence of the observability and quality of the image in the case of the transmission SEM.


Author(s):  
R.A. Ploc

The optic axis of an electron microscope objective lens is usually assumed to be straight and co-linear with the mechanical center. No reason exists to assume such perfection and, indeed, simple reasoning suggests that it is a complicated curve. A current centered objective lens with a non-linear optic axis when used in conjunction with other lenses, leads to serious image errors if the nature of the specimen is such as to produce intense inelastic scattering.


Author(s):  
J. S. Lally ◽  
R. Evans

One of the instrumental factors often limiting the resolution of the electron microscope is image defocussing due to changes in accelerating voltage or objective lens current. This factor is particularly important in high voltage electron microscopes both because of the higher voltages and lens currents required but also because of the inherently longer focal lengths, i.e. 6 mm in contrast to 1.5-2.2 mm for modern short focal length objectives.The usual practice in commercial electron microscopes is to design separately stabilized accelerating voltage and lens supplies. In this case chromatic aberration in the image is caused by the random and independent fluctuations of both the high voltage and objective lens current.


Author(s):  
S. Takashima ◽  
H. Hashimoto ◽  
S. Kimoto

The resolution of a conventional transmission electron microscope (TEM) deteriorates as the specimen thickness increases, because chromatic aberration of the objective lens is caused by the energy loss of electrons). In the case of a scanning electron microscope (SEM), chromatic aberration does not exist as the restrictive factor for the resolution of the transmitted electron image, for the SEM has no imageforming lens. It is not sure, however, that the equal resolution to the probe diameter can be obtained in the case of a thick specimen. To study the relation between the specimen thickness and the resolution of the trans-mitted electron image obtained by the SEM, the following experiment was carried out.


Author(s):  
M. Nishigaki ◽  
S. Katagiri ◽  
H. Kimura ◽  
B. Tadano

The high voltage electron microscope has many advantageous features in comparison with the ordinary electron microscope. They are a higher penetrating efficiency of the electron, low chromatic aberration, high accuracy of the selected area diffraction and so on. Thus, the high voltage electron microscope becomes an indispensable instrument for the metallurgical, polymer and biological specimen studies. The application of the instrument involves today not only basic research but routine survey in the various fields. Particularly for the latter purpose, the performance, maintenance and reliability of the microscope should be same as those of commercial ones. The authors completed a 500 kV electron microscope in 1964 and a 1,000 kV one in 1966 taking these points into consideration. The construction of our 1,000 kV electron microscope is described below.


Author(s):  
Willem H.J. Andersen

Electron microscope design, and particularly the design of the imaging system, has reached a high degree of perfection. Present objective lenses perform up to their theoretical limit, while the whole imaging system, consisting of three or four lenses, provides very wide ranges of magnification and diffraction camera length with virtually no distortion of the image. Evolution of the electron microscope in to a routine research tool in which objects of steadily increasing thickness are investigated, has made it necessary for the designer to pay special attention to the chromatic aberrations of the magnification system (as distinct from the chromatic aberration of the objective lens). These chromatic aberrations cause edge un-sharpness of the image due to electrons which have suffered energy losses in the object.There exist two kinds of chromatic aberration of the magnification system; the chromatic change of magnification, characterized by the coefficient Cm, and the chromatic change of rotation given by Cp.


Author(s):  
K. Izui ◽  
T. Nishida ◽  
S. Furuno ◽  
H. Otsu ◽  
S. Kuwabara

Recently we have observed the structure images of silicon in the (110), (111) and (100) projection respectively, and then examined the optimum defocus and thickness ranges for the formation of such images on the basis of calculations of image contrasts using the n-slice theory. The present paper reports the effects of a chromatic aberration and a slight misorientation on the images, and also presents some applications of structure images of Si, Ge and MoS2 to the radiation damage studies.(1) Effect of a chromatic aberration and slight misorientation: There is an inevitable fluctuation in the amount of defocus due to a chromatic aberration originating from the fluctuations both in the energies of electrons and in the magnetic lens current. The actual image is a results of superposition of those fluctuated images during the exposure time. Assuming the Gaussian distribution for defocus, Δf around the optimum defocus value Δf0, the intensity distribution, I(x,y) in the image formed by this fluctuation is given by


Author(s):  
Murray Vernon King ◽  
Donald F. Parsons

Effective application of the high-voltage electron microscope to a wide variety of biological studies has been restricted by the radiation sensitivity of biological systems. The problem of radiation damage has been recognized as a serious factor influencing the amount of information attainable from biological specimens in electron microscopy at conventional voltages around 100 kV. The problem proves to be even more severe at higher voltages around 1 MV. In this range, the problem is the relatively low sensitivity of the existing recording media, which entails inordinately long exposures that give rise to severe radiation damage. This low sensitivity arises from the small linear energy transfer for fast electrons. Few developable grains are created in the emulsion per electron, while most of the energy of the electrons is wasted in the film base.


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