Using coherent illumination to extend HRTEM resolution: Why we need a FEG-TEM for HREM

摘要

Resolution of a high-resolution transmission electron microscope (HRTEM) has traditionally been defined in terms of its Scherzer resolution limit at optimum defocus. However, even beyond the Scherzer limit, spatial frequencies can be transferred from the specimen to the image, out to the so-called information limit of the electron microscope. The information limit of the HRTEM is determined by the degree of energy spread in the electron beam used to illuminate the sample. Since a HRTEM equipped with a field-emission gun (FEG) will produce an electron beam of high coherence with little energy spread, it can achieve an improved information-limit, and can thus be used to produce through-focus series of images containing information well beyond its nominal (Scherzer) resolution limit. Suitable computer processing of such series of images can produce composite images at resolutions approaching the microscope information limit. For such a FEG-TEM, combined with suitable computer image processing, resolution can approach 1(Angstrom). 12 refs., 9 figs.