title: On-chip thin film Zernike phase plate for in-focus transmission electron microscopy imaging of organic materials.
abstract: Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) is a powerful tool for imaging nanostructures, yet its capability is limited with respect to the imaging of organic materials because of the intrinsic low contrast problem. TEM phase plates have been in development for decades, yet a reliable phase plate technique has not been available because the performance of TEM phase plates deteriorates too quickly. Such an obstacle prohibits in-focus TEM phase imaging to be routinely achievable, thus limiting the technique being used in practical applications. Here we present an on-chip thin film Zernike phase plate which can effectively release charging and allow reliable in-focus TEM images of organic materials with enhanced contrast to be routinely obtained. With this stable system, we were able to characterize many polymer solar cell specimens and consequently identified and verified the existence of an unexpected nanoparticle phase. Furthermore, we were also able to observe the fine structures of an  Escherichia coli  specimen, without staining, using this on-chip thin film phase plate. Our system, which can be installed on a commercial TEM, opens up exciting possibilities for TEM to characterize organic materials.
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taipei 106, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Pai-Chia
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: Kuo
authors.forename: I-Hui
authors.initials: IH
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Chih-Ting
authors.initials: CT
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Ku-Pin
authors.initials: KP
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Chun-Wei
authors.initials: CW
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Chih-Cheng
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: Shirley Wen-Yu
authors.initials: SW
authors.lastname: Chiu
authors.forename: Yong-Fen
authors.initials: YF
authors.lastname: Hsieh
authors.forename: Yuh-Lin
authors.initials: YL
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Jessie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Shiue
mesh_terms: D004867:Equipment Design; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D007368:Interferometry / Q000295:instrumentation*; D008422:Materials Testing / Q000295:instrumentation*; D008567:Membranes, Artificial; D046529:Microscopy, Electron, Transmission / Q000295:instrumentation*; D008858:Microscopy, Phase-Contrast / Q000295:instrumentation*; D009930:Organic Chemicals / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D008567:Membranes, Artificial; D009930:Organic Chemicals