Optimization of STEM tomography acquisition--a comparison of convergent beam and parallel beam STEM tomography

Johannes Biskupek; Jens Leschner; Paul Walther; Ute Kaiser

doi:10.1016/j.ultramic.2010.05.008

Optimization of STEM tomography acquisition--a comparison of convergent beam and parallel beam STEM tomography

Ultramicroscopy. 2010 Aug;110(9):1231-7. doi: 10.1016/j.ultramic.2010.05.008. Epub 2010 May 20.

Authors

Johannes Biskupek¹, Jens Leschner, Paul Walther, Ute Kaiser

Affiliation

¹ Central Facility of Electron Microscopy, Ulm University, Albert-Einstein-Allee 11, D-89081 Ulm, Germany. [email protected]

PMID: 20570046
DOI: 10.1016/j.ultramic.2010.05.008

Abstract

In this paper two imaging modes in a state-of-the-art scanning transmission electron microscope (STEM) are compared: conventional STEM with a convergent beam (referred to as nanoprobe) and STEM with a parallel beam (referred to as microprobe). The effect and influence of both modes with respect to their depth of field are investigated. Tomograms of a human white blood cell (hemophagocytes) are acquired, aligned, and evaluated. It is shown that STEM using a parallel beam produces tomograms with fewer distortions and artifacts that allows resolving finer features. Microprobe STEM tomography is advantageous especially in life science, when semi-thin sections (approximately 0.5 microm thick) of biological samples are imaged at relatively low magnification with a large field of view.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't