3.1 Tem imaging of carbon nanomaterials

Introduction to tem

Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) is a form of microscopy that uses an high energy electron beam (rather than optical light). A beam of electrons is transmitted through an ultra thin specimen, interacting with the specimen as it passes through. The image (formed from the interaction of the electrons with the sample) is magnified and focused onto an imaging device, such as a photographic film, a fluorescent screen,or detected by a CCD camera. In order to let the electrons pass through the specimen, the specimen has to be ultra thin, usually thinner than 10 nm.

The resolution of TEM is significantly higher than light microscopes. This is because the electron has a much smaller de Broglie wavelength than visible light (wavelength of 400~700 nm). Theoretically, the maximum resolution, d, has been limited by λ, the wavelength of the detecting source (light or electrons) and NA, the numerical aperture of the system.

For high speed electrons (in TEM, electron velocity is close to the speed of light, c, so that the special theory of relativity has to be considered), the λ _e :

According to this formula, if we increase the energy of the detecting source, its wavelength will decrease, and we can get higher resolution. Today, the energy of electrons used can easily get to 200 keV, sometimes as high as 1 MeV, which means the resolution is good enough to investigate structure in sub-nanometer scale. Because the electrons is focused by several electrostatic and electromagnetic lenses, like the problems optical camera usually have, the image resolution is also limited by aberration, especially the spherical aberration called C _s . Equipped with a new generation of aberration correctors, transmission electron aberration-corrected microscope (TEAM) can overcome spherical aberration and get to half angstrom resolution.

Although TEAM can easily get to atomic resolution, the first TEM invented by Ruska in April 1932 could hardly compete with optical microscope, with only 3.6×4.8 = 14.4 magnification. The primary problem was the electron irradiation damage to sample in poor vacuum system. After World War II, Ruska resumed his work in developing high resolution TEM. Finally, this work brought him the Nobel Prize in physics 1986. Since then, the general structure of TEM hasn’t changed too much as shown in [link] . The basic components in TEM are: electron gun, condenser system, objective lens (most important len in TEM which determines the final resolution), diffraction lens, projective lenses (all lens are inside the equipment column, between apertures), image recording system (used to be negative films, now is CCD cameras) and vacuum system.