title: Dose limited reliability of quantitative annular dark field scanning transmission electron microscopy for nano-particle atom-counting.
abstract: Quantitative annular dark field scanning transmission electron microscopy (ADF STEM) has become a powerful technique to characterise nano-particles on an atomic scale. Because of their limited size and beam sensitivity, the atomic structure of such particles may become extremely challenging to determine. Therefore keeping the incoming electron dose to a minimum is important. However, this may reduce the reliability of quantitative ADF STEM which will here be demonstrated for nano-particle atom-counting. Based on experimental ADF STEM images of a real industrial catalyst, we discuss the limits for counting the number of atoms in a projected atomic column with single atom sensitivity. We diagnose these limits by combining a thorough statistical method and detailed image simulations.
authors.affiliation: Electron Microscopy for Materials Science (EMAT), University of Antwerp, Groenenborgerlaan 171, B-2020 Antwerp, Belgium.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: De Backer
authors.affiliation: Electron Microscopy for Materials Science (EMAT), University of Antwerp, Groenenborgerlaan 171, B-2020 Antwerp, Belgium.
authors.forename: G T
authors.initials: GT
authors.lastname: Martinez
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials, University of Oxford, 16 Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PH, UK.
authors.forename: K E
authors.initials: KE
authors.lastname: MacArthur
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials, University of Oxford, 16 Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PH, UK.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Jones
authors.affiliation: Electron Microscopy for Materials Science (EMAT), University of Antwerp, Groenenborgerlaan 171, B-2020 Antwerp, Belgium.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Béché
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials, University of Oxford, 16 Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PH, UK.
authors.forename: P D
authors.initials: PD
authors.lastname: Nellist
authors.affiliation: Electron Microscopy for Materials Science (EMAT), University of Antwerp, Groenenborgerlaan 171, B-2020 Antwerp, Belgium. Electronic address: sandra.vanaert@uantwerpen.be.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Van Aert
keywords: Catalyst nano-particles; Data processing/image processing; High-resolution scanning transmission electron microscopy (HR STEM); Nano-particle atom-counting; Quantitative ADF STEM