title: Large-angle illumination STEM: toward three-dimensional atom-by-atom imaging.
abstract: To fully understand and control materials and their properties, it is of critical importance to determine their atomic structures in all three dimensions. Recent revolutionary advances in electron optics - the inventions of geometric and chromatic aberration correctors as well as electron source monochromators - have provided fertile ground for performing optical depth sectioning at atomic-scale dimensions. In this study we theoretically demonstrate the imaging of top/sub-surface atomic structures and identify the depth of single dopants, single vacancies and the other point defects within materials by large-angle illumination scanning transmission electron microscopy (LAI-STEM). The proposed method also allows us to measure specimen properties such as thickness or three-dimensional surface morphology using observations from a single crystallographic orientation.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Engineering Innovation, University of Tokyo, Tokyo 113-8656, Japan. Electronic address: ishikawa@sigma.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Ryo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ishikawa
authors.affiliation: Materials Science & Technology Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN 37831, United States.
authors.forename: Andrew R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Lupini
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8501, Japan.
authors.forename: Yoyo
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Hinuma
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, The University of Tennessee, 328 Ferris Hall, Knoxville, TN 37996, United States.
authors.forename: Stephen J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Pennycook
keywords: Annular dark-field (ADF); Atomic-depth resolution imaging; Scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM); Surface imaging