title: Prospects for electron beam aberration correction using sculpted phase masks.
abstract: Technological advances in fabrication methods allowed the microscopy community to take incremental steps towards perfecting the electron microscope, and magnetic lens design in particular. Still, state of the art aberration-corrected microscopes are yet 20-30 times shy of the theoretical electron diffraction limit. Moreover, these microscopes consume significant physical space and are very expensive. Here, we show how a thin, sculpted membrane is used as a phase-mask to induce specific aberrations into an electron beam probe in a standard high resolution TEM. In particular, we experimentally demonstrate beam splitting, two-fold astigmatism, three-fold astigmatism, and spherical aberration.
authors.affiliation: School of Electrical Engineering, Fleischman Faculty of Engineering, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel. Electronic address: royshilo@post.tau.ac.il.
authors.forename: Roy
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Shiloh
authors.affiliation: School of Electrical Engineering, Fleischman Faculty of Engineering, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel.
authors.forename: Roei
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Remez
authors.affiliation: School of Electrical Engineering, Fleischman Faculty of Engineering, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel.
authors.forename: Ady
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Arie
keywords: Aberration correction; Electron column; Phase-masks; Phase-plates; Thin film membranes