• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.326-331
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• 2023

The utilization of scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) in conjunction with cathodoluminescence (CL) has emerged as a valuable tool for the investigation of material optical properties. In recent years, this technique has facilitated significant advancements in the fields of plasmonics and quantum emitters by surpassing prior technical restrictions. The review commences by providing an outline of the diverse STEM-CL operating modes and technical aspects of the instrumentation. The review explains the fundamental physics of light production under electron beam irradiation and the physical basis for interpreting STEM-CL experiments for different types of excitations. Additionally, the review compares STEM-CL to other related techniques such as scanning electron microscope CL, photoluminescence, and electron energy-loss spectroscopy.

• Applied Microscopy
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• v.48 no.1
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• pp.27-32
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• 2018

Barium titanate ($BaTiO_3$) nanoparticle is one of the most promising materials for future multi-layer ceramic capacitor and ferroelectric random access memory. It is well known that electrical property of nanoparticles depends on the atomistic structure. Although surface may possibly have an impact on the atomistic structure, reconstructed structure at the surface has not been widely investigated. In the present study, Ba-ion position near surface in a $BaTiO_3$ nanoparticle has been quantitatively characterized by scanning transmission electron microscopy. It was found that some Ba ions at the surface were greatly displaced in non-uniform directions.

• Applied Microscopy
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• v.51
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• pp.1.1-1.2
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• 2021

We demonstrate a fabrication of an atomically controlled single-crystal heart-shaped nanostructure using a convergent electron beam in a scanning transmission electron microscope. The delicately controlled e-beam enable epitaxial crystallization of perovskite oxide LaAlO₃ grown out of the relative conductive interface (i.e. 2 dimensional electron gas) between amorphous LaAlO₃/crystalline SrTiO₃.

• Journal of Korea Technical Association of The Pulp and Paper Industry
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• v.48 no.1
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• pp.5-18
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• 2016

Electron microscopy is an important investigation and analytical method for the morphological characterization of various cellulosic materials, such as micro-crystalline cellulose (MCC), microfibrillated cellulose (MFC), nanofibrillated cellulose (NFC), and cellulose nanocrystals (CNC). However, more accurate morphological analysis requires high-quality micrographs acquired from the proper use of an electron microscope and associated sample preparation methods. Understanding the interaction of electron and matter as well as the importance of sample preparation methods, including drying and staining methods, enables the production of high quality images with adequate information on the nanocellulosic materials. This paper provides a brief overview of the micro and nano structural analysis of cellulose, as investigated using transmission and scanning electron microscopy.

• Applied Microscopy
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• v.46 no.2
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• pp.100-104
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• 2016

Electron microscopy is currently the only available technique with a spatial resolution sufficient to identify fine neuronal processes and synaptic structures in densely packed neuropil. For large-scale volume reconstruction of neuronal connectivity, serial block-face scanning electron microscopy allows us to acquire thousands of serial images in an automated fashion and reconstruct neural circuits faster by reducing the alignment task. Here we introduce the whole reconstruction procedure of synaptic network in the rat hippocampal CA1 area and discuss technical issues to be resolved for improving image quality and segmentation. Compared to the serial section transmission electron microscopy, serial block-face scanning electron microscopy produced much reliable three-dimensional data sets and accelerated reconstruction by reducing the need of alignment and distortion adjustment. This approach will generate invaluable information on organizational features of our connectomes as well as diverse neurological disorders caused by synaptic impairments.

• Applied Microscopy
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• v.44 no.2
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• pp.74-78
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• 2014

Dislocation density and distribution in epitaxial GaAs layer on Si are evaluated quantitatively and effectively using image processing of transmission electron microscopy image. In order to evaluate dislocation density and distribution, three methods are introduced based on line-intercept, line-length measurement and our coding with line-scanning method. Our coding method based on line-scanning is used to detect the dislocations line-by-line effectively by sweeping a thin line with the width of one pixel. The proposed method has advances in the evaluation of dislocation density and distribution. Dislocations can be detected automatically and continuously by a sweeping line in the code. Variation of dislocation density in epitaxial GaAs films can be precisely analyzed along the growth direction on the film.

• Applied Microscopy
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• v.48 no.4
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• pp.132-133
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• 2018

One of the most important factors determining the properties of a material is its grain size. However, unclear grain boundaries in the image hinder an accurate measurement of grain size. We demonstrate that grain boundaries existing in the images obtained by scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) can be clearly distinguished by applying a Sobel filter to a tilting series of STEM images of a hydrogenation-disproportionation-desorption-recombination processed Nd2Fe14B magnet sample.

• Applied Microscopy
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• v.45 no.4
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• pp.199-202
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• 2015

A simple and novel transmission electron microscopy (TEM) sample preparation method for phase change nanowire is investigated. A $Ge_2Sb_2Te_5$ (GST) nanowire TEM sample was meticulously prepared using nanomanipulator and gas injection system in a field emission scanning electron microscopy for efficient and accurate TEM analysis. The process can minimize the damage during the TEM sample preparation of the nanowires, thus enabling the crystallographic analysis of as-grown GST nanowires without unexpected phase transition caused by e-beam heating.

• Applied Microscopy
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• v.50
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• pp.23.1-23.9
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• 2020

We propose an effective deep learning model to denoise scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) image series, named Noise2Atom, to map images from a source domain 𝓢 to a target domain 𝓒, where 𝓢 is for our noisy experimental dataset, and 𝓒 is for the desired clear atomic images. Noise2Atom uses two external networks to apply additional constraints from the domain knowledge. This model requires no signal prior, no noise model estimation, and no paired training images. The only assumption is that the inputs are acquired with identical experimental configurations. To evaluate the restoration performance of our model, as it is impossible to obtain ground truth for our experimental dataset, we propose consecutive structural similarity (CSS) for image quality assessment, based on the fact that the structures remain much the same as the previous frame(s) within small scan intervals. We demonstrate the superiority of our model by providing evaluation in terms of CSS and visual quality on different experimental datasets.

• Applied Microscopy
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.39-46
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• 1972

There are many kinds of microscopes suitable for general studies; optical microscopes(OM), conventional transmission electron microscopes (TEM), and scanning electron microscopes(SEM). The optical microscopes and the conventional transmission electron microscopes are very familiar. The images of these microscopes are directly formed on an image plane with one or more image forming lenses. On the other hand, the image of the scanning electron microscope is formed on a fluorescent screen of a cathode ray tube using a scanning system similar to television technique. In this paper, the features and some applications of the scanning electron microscope will be discussed briefly. The recently available scanning electron microscope, combining a resolution of about $200{\AA}$ with great depth of field, is favorable when compared to the replica technique. It avoids the problem of specimen damage and the introduction of artifacts. In addition, it permits the examination of many samples that can not be replicated, and provides a broader range of information. The scanning electron microscope has found application in diverse fields of study including biology, chemistry, materials science, semiconductor technology, and many others. In scanning electron microscopy, the secondary electron method. the backscattererd electron method, and the electromotive force method are most widely used, and the transmitted electron method will become more useful. Change-over of magnification can be easily done by controlling the scanning width of the electron probe. It is possible. to continuously vary the magnification over the range from 100 times to 1.00,000 times without readjustment of focusing. Conclusion: With the development of a scanning. electron microscope, it is now possible to observe almost all-information produced through interactions between substances and electrons in the form of image. When the probe is properly focused on the specimen, changing magnification of specimen orientation does not require any change in focus. This is quite different from the conventional transmission electron microscope. It is worthwhile to note that the typical probe currents of $10^{-10}$ to $10^{-12}\;{\AA}$ are for below the $10^{-5}$ to $10^{-7}\;{\AA}$ of a conventional. transmission microscope. This reduces specimen contamination and specimen damage due to heatings. Outstanding features of the scanning electron microscope include the 'stereoscopic observation of a bulky or fiber specimen in high resolution' and 'observation of potential distribution and electromotive force in semiconductor devices'.