Abstract
THE conventional resolution of transmission electron microscopes is orders of magnitude larger than the wavelength of the electrons used. Aberrations of the objective lens corrupt spatial information on length scales below a limit known as the point resolution. Methods to correct for lens aberrations1–5 require knowledge of the phase of the waves which make up the image (this constitutes the 'phase problem'). Beyond the point resolution, information can still be transferred by the microscope, but partial coherence of the scattered beams imposes an ultimate limit (the 'information limit9) on the resolution of the transferred image information. Here we show that this limit can be overcome to obtain images of still higher resolution with a scanning transmission electron microscope. Our approach involves collecting coherent microdiffraction patterns as a function of probe position, enabling us to extract the phase differences of all neighbouring pairs of diffracted beams. Using this approach for a microscope with a conventional point resolution of 0.42 nm and a conventional information limit of 0.33 nm, we are able to form an aberration-free image that resolves an atomic spacing of 0.136 nm.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 51 print issues and online access
$199.00 per year
only $3.90 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Gabor, D. Nature 161, 777–778 (1948).
Gabor, D. Proc. R. Soc. A197, 454–487 (1949).
Lichte, H. Adv. opt. Electron Microsc. 12, 25–91 (1991).
Orchowski, A., Rau, W. D. & Lichte, H. Phys. Rev. Lett. 74, 399–401 (1995).
Van Dyck, D., Op de Beeck, M. & Coene, W. Optik 93, 103–107 (1993).
Spenoe, J. C. H. Experimental High-Resolution Electron Microscopy (Oxford Univ. Press, New York, 1988).
Hoppe, W. Acta crystallogr. A25, 495–501 (1969).
Hoppe, W. & Strube, G. Acta crystallogr. A25, 502–507 (1969).
Hoppe, W. Acta. crystallogr. A25, 508–514 (1969).
Hegerl, R. & Hoppe, W. Ber. Bunsenges. phys. Chem. 74, 1148–1154 (1979).
Konnert, J., D'Antonio, P., Cowley, J. M., Higgs, A. & Ou, H. J. Ultramicroscopy 30, 371–384 (1989).
Izui, K., Furuno, S. & Otsu, H. J. Electron Microsc. 26, 129–132 (1977).
Izui, K., Furuno, S., Nishida, T., Otsu, H. & Kuwabara, S. J. Electron Microsc. 27, 171–179 (1978).
Glaisher, R. W., Spargo, A. E. C. & Smith, D. J. Ultramicroscopy 27, 19–34 (1989).
Glaisher, R. W., Spargo, A. E. C. & Smith, D. J. Ultramicroscopy 27, 35–52 (1989).
Spence, J. C. H. & Cowley, J. M. Optik 50, 129–142 (1978).
Nathan, R. in Digital Processing of Biomedical Images (eds Preston, K. & Onoe, M.) 75–88 (Plenum, New York, 1976).
Spence, J. C. H. Optik 49, 117–120 (1977).
Spence, J. C. H. Scann. Electron Microsc. 1, 61–68 (1978).
McCallum, B. C. & Rodenburg, J. M. Ultramicroscopy 52, 85–99 (1993).
Rodenburg, J. M. & Bates, R. H. T. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A339, 521–553 (1992).
McCallum, B. C. & Rodenburg, J. M. Ultramicroscopy 45, 371–380 (1992).
Rodenburg, J. M., McCallum, B. C. & Nellist, P. D. Ultramicroscopy 48, 303–314 (1993).
McCallum, B. C. & Rodenburg, J. M. J. opt. Soc. Am A10, 231–239 (1993).
Cowley, J. M. Appl. Phys. Lett. 15, 58–59 (1969).
Cowley, J. M. Ultramicroscopy 2, 3–16 (1976).
Dowell, W. C. T. & Goodman, P. Phil. Mag. 28, 471–473 (1973).
Vine, W. J., Vincent, R., Spellward, P. & Steeds, J. W. Ultramicroscopy 41, 423–428 (1992).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Nellist, P., McCallum, B. & Rodenburg, J. Resolution beyond the 'information limit' in transmission electron microscopy. Nature 374, 630–632 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1038/374630a0
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/374630a0
This article is cited by
-
Local-orbital ptychography for ultrahigh-resolution imaging
Nature Nanotechnology (2024)
-
Direct observation of single-atom defects in monolayer two-dimensional materials by using electron ptychography at 200 kV acceleration voltage
Scientific Reports (2024)
-
Attentional Ptycho-Tomography (APT) for three-dimensional nanoscale X-ray imaging with minimal data acquisition and computation time
Light: Science & Applications (2023)
-
Solving complex nanostructures with ptychographic atomic electron tomography
Nature Communications (2023)
-
Probing charge density in materials with atomic resolution in real space
Nature Reviews Physics (2022)
Comments
By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.