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Imaging single atoms using secondary electrons with an aberration-corrected electron microscope

Abstract

Aberration correction has embarked on a new frontier in electron microscopy by overcoming the limitations of conventional round lenses, providing sub-angstrom-sized probes1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8. However, improvement of spatial resolution using aberration correction so far has been limited to the use of transmitted electrons both in scanning and stationary mode, with an improvement of 20–40% (refs 3–8). In contrast, advances in the spatial resolution of scanning electron microscopes (SEMs), which are by far the most widely used instrument for surface imaging at the micrometre–nanometre scale9, have been stagnant, despite several recent efforts10,11. Here, we report a new SEM, with aberration correction, able to image single atoms by detecting electrons emerging from its surface as a result of interaction with the small probe. The spatial resolution achieved represents a fourfold improvement over the best-reported resolution in any SEM (refs 10–12). Furthermore, we can simultaneously probe the sample through its entire thickness with transmitted electrons. This ability is significant because it permits the selective visualization of bulk atoms and surface ones, beyond a traditional two-dimensional projection in transmission electron microscopy. It has the potential to revolutionize the field of microscopy and imaging, thereby opening the door to a wide range of applications, especially when combined with simultaneous nanoprobe spectroscopy.

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Figure 1: Overview of the experimental set-up for the simultaneous acquisition of SEM and STEM images.
Figure 2: Imaging individual atoms with secondary electrons.
Figure 3: Effect of sample bias on SEM imaging.
Figure 4: Imaging a crystal surface with secondary electrons.

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Acknowledgements

We thank R. F. Egerton for stimulating discussions. We also thank L. Wu, D. Su, V. V. Volkov, J. Liu and M. Sato for discussions and assistance. Work at Brookhaven was supported by the US Department of Energy, Office of Basic Energy Science, under Contract No. DE-AC02-98CH10886.

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Y.Z. initiated and coordinated the project and wrote the letter with J.W. H.I. and K.N. were involved in instrument development. H.I. carried out the experiment and collected the data. J.W. and Y.Z. analysed and interpreted the data.

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Correspondence to Y. Zhu.

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Zhu, Y., Inada, H., Nakamura, K. et al. Imaging single atoms using secondary electrons with an aberration-corrected electron microscope. Nature Mater 8, 808–812 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat2532

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