An electron microscope for the aberration-corrected era.
Improved resolution made possible by aberration correction has greatly increased the demands on the performance of all parts of high-end electron microscopes. In order to meet these demands, we have designed and built an entirely new scanning transmission electron microscope (STEM). The microscope includes a flexible illumination system that allows the properties of its probe to be changed on-the-fly, a third-generation aberration corrector which corrects all geometric aberrations up to fifth order, an ultra-responsive yet stable five-axis sample stage, and a flexible configuration of optimized detectors. The microscope features many innovations, such as a modular column assembled from building blocks that can be stacked in almost any order, in situ storage and cleaning facilities for up to five samples, computer-controlled loading of samples into the column, and self-diagnosing electronics. The microscope construction is described, and examples of its capabilities are shown.
Krivanek
O L
OL
Nion Co., 1102 8th Street, Kirkland, WA 98033, USA. krivanek.ondrej@gmail.com
Corbin
G J
GJ
Dellby
N
N
Elston
B F
BF
Keyse
R J
RJ
Murfitt
M F
MF
Own
C S
CS
Szilagyi
Z S
ZS
Woodruff
J W
JW