SUMMARY An energy‐filtering microscope working at 80 keV is used for the investigation of the effect of inelastic scattering on Bragg contrast. Inelastic scattering results in a preservation of Bragg contrast but edge and bend contours are blurred by a spectrum of excitation errors due to the angular distribution of inelastic scattering. This blurring and the chromatic aberration results in a decrease of contrast and resolution for thick specimens. Therefore, contrast and resolution can be increased by zero‐loss filtering as shown by evaporated films of increasing thickness below 150 μg/cm2. Up to ∼300 μg/cm2 an energy‐filtered image at the most probable energy shows the best results. The results obtained are extrapolated to energy‐filtered high‐voltage electron microscopy.
Electron spectroscopic imaging (ESI) by an energy-filtering electron microscope (EFEM, Zeiss EM902) shows the following advantages when compared with the unfiltered bright-field mode:1.The zero-loss image does not contain the contribution of inelastically scattered electrons. Though plasmon scattering shows a conversation of Bragg contrast - edge and bent contours and lattice defect images -, the angular distribution of inelastically scattered electrons results in a broader spectrum of excitation errors and a blurring of Bragg contrast.2.The zero-loss image avoids the chromatic aberration of inelastically scattered electrons for medium specimen thicknesses and can be applied so long as the intensity of the zero-loss peak in the electron energy-loss spectrum (EELS) is high enough for an exposure in a reasonable time (<100 s).3.Thick specimens with negligible zero-loss intensity can be imaged with an energy window at the highest multiple plasmon loss of the Poisson distribution or at the most probable energy of a Landau distribution. The angular distribution of electrons with these energy losses is so broad that the Bragg contrast is blurred, and the contrast is only caused by anomalous absorption effects similar to multi-beam images in the STEM mode when using a large probe aperture.
One advantage of energy-filtering electron microscopy (EFEM) is to avoid the chromatic aberration of conventional transmission electron microscopy (CTEM) by the mode of electron spectroscopic imaging (ESI) using either zero-loss filtering of unscattered and elastically scattered electrons or a narrow selected energy window at the most probable loss of the electron-energy-loss spectrum (EELS). Chromatic aberration can also be reduced by high-voltage electron microscopy (HVEM). Comparisons of ESI at 80 keV and CTEM at 200 keV have already been reported for biological tissues. In this contribution we compare the imaging of evaporated crystalline films with ESI at 80 keV in a ZEISS EM902 and with CTEM at 200 keV in a Hitachi H800/NA.Zero-loss filtering at 80 keV can be applied for maximum mass-thicknesses of x=ρt≃150 μg/cm2 where the zero-loss transmission falls below 0.001 and an energy window at the most-probable energy loss can be used below ≃300 μg/cm2. Inelastic scattering preserves the Bragg contrast.
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