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TEAM microscope breaks the angstrom barrier

A new TEM (transmission electron microscope) developed by the TEAM project has achieved 'the highest resolution images ever recorded' using the technique.
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TEAM suggest that their latest advances will enable researchers to study how atoms combine to form molecules, how materials grow and how they respond to a variety of external factors.
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The TEAM (Transmission Electron Aberration-corrected Microscope) project brings together leading microscopy groups from the US Department of Energy's (USDE) national laboratories, FEI Company and CEOS (Corrected Electron Optical Systems) to design and construct the next generation of microscopes.
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The TEM technique transmits a beam of electrons through a sample allowing an image to be formed, magnified and then captured by a camera.
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1z N0wH*m%DmAV Traditionally TEM and scanning TEM microscopes have suffered from somewhat limited resolution that stopped frustratingly short of allowing researchers to study materials accurately at the atomic level.sJ`5Uti
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This latest development has managed to reach a resolution of 0.5 Angstroms (A) (0.05nm) or one quarter of the diameter of a carbon atom.
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i,d(Iu?.PO5Ye The increased resolution of the TEAM microscope should enable scientists in all disciplines to characterise atomic scale structure and chemistry more accurately than ever before.Z?2Wjm'Q4J
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The breakthrough was achieved on an FEI Titan S/TEM instrument, equipped with two CEOS-designed spherical aberration correctors that dramatically improved the microscopes imaging abilities.
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"This is a great achievement in electron microscope development, to have reached the 0.5 Angstrom goal so early in the project is a significant milestone for the collaboration," said Ulrich Dahmen, TEAM project director and director of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory's National Center for Electron Microscopy. @0u2P%F4H

qZ d9` DY"{bZ/mp "Now we look forward to transferring the remarkable performance of the TEAM microscope into a tool for exploration of atomic structure in the nanoworld."!ict(a4q+b3T2`h{

XIfiQ Z)]E The race to develop new high resolution microscope systems is rapidly gaining momentum as scientists look for better tools to study nano-systems and -devices.
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u8J jW6d%b8~ At a press conference at Pittcon 2007 in February, Jeol said it was developing a competing S/TEM microscope system in collaboration with Dr Takayanagi of the Tokyo Institute of Technology that would 'soon' exceed the TEAM project goals of 0.5A resolution and sub-angstrom 3D imaging capability.
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At the time of the press conference, they believed it to be producing the highest resolution images ever achieved.t8Wd;p0x.Ct~ud2`6z

/N6Bg~ ad Just two months ago, Carl Zeiss shipped the world's first helium ion scanning electron microscope (SEM) which took the resolution of that technique to the next level.

other progress in FEI

A new microscope developed by the TEAM Project (Transmission Electron Aberration-corrected Microscope), supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, has recorded the highest-resolution images ever seen (0.05 nanometer and below). This is equivalent to a quarter of the diameter of a carbon atom. This microscope will be delivered to the Berkeley National Laboratory in 2008 and will be fully operational in 2010. To achieve this resolution, this microscope mixes two technologies, SEM (Scanning Electron Microscope) and TEM (Transmission Electron Microscope). Such a microscope will allow to ’study how atoms combine to form materials, how materials grow and how they respond to a variety of external factors.’v&p8GQa4i
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TEM image of the dumbbell structure (0.14nm) of GermaniumDrJsb^2l:Y

[xW q:Tq,KaF You can see above “a high resolution TEM image of the dumbbell structure (0.14nm) of Germanium, which reveals that inter atomic distances can be measured with ultrahigh precision. The intensity profile (insert) brilliantly proves that the contrast level in between the germanium dumbbell reaches the base level of the larger distances of the structure.” (Credit: FEI Company) s C%z Gw%EO

Z6G3X?y The FEI Titan microscope
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:vZ9F5GM| And on the left is a picture of the new multi-million dollar Titan microscope. (Credit: FEI Company) Please note that you will not find — yet — these pictures on the company’s website because the company sent them me directly.
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This microscope has been built by FEI Company, based in Oregon, and CEOS GmbH, based in Heidelberg/Germany, for the TEAM Project.3y _Q](pJ+d
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Here are some brief details about the technology used provided by the FEI Company’s press release. “The unprecedented performance recorded in these two imaging modes has been achieved on a single instrument developed by FEI Company — using Titan™ S/TEM technology — equipped with two CEOS-designed spherical aberration correctors, dramatically improving the microscope’s imaging and other abilities. The special TEAM microscope is the result of a series of new technology breakthroughs, providing for higher stability than previously possible and incorporating the newly designed aberration correctors. TEM images obtained show an information transfer down to 0.5 Ångström. In STEM mode, frequencies better than 0.5 Ångström were recorded.” Please note that 0.5 Ångström represents 0.05 nanometer.
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N2UOt9^rE But why is it important to build a microscope with such a resolution? The TEAM Project answers on this page. “With the TEAM microscope it will become possible to study how atoms combine to form materials, how materials grow and how they respond to a variety of external factors. These constitute many of the most practical things that we need to know about materials and will improve designs for everything from better, lighter, more efficient automobiles, to stronger buildings and new ways of harvesting energy.”
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As said Ulrich Dahmen, TEAM project Director and Director of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s National Center for Electron Microscopy in FEI Company’s press release, “As the first big collaborative project for the microscopy community, TEAM set ambitious goals. To have reached the 0.5 Ångström goal early in the project is a significant milestone for the collaboration, and a validation of the Department of Energy’s investment in the development of world-leading scientific instrumentation. Now we look forward to transferring the remarkable performance of the TEAM microscope into a tool for exploration of atomic structure in the nanoworld.”j:`m&Q&S`(Uo


neE1|2V/H"W A prototype of this very high performance microscope should be delivered in 2008 to the National Center for Electron Microscopy (NCEM) at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in Berkeley, California. The TEAM instrument is scheduled to be fully operational in 2009.
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7I9_#ia K;|V6H [[i] 本帖最后由 tarot 于 2007-10-06 10:43 编辑 [/i]]