4D scanning transmission electron microscopy (4D STEM) is a subset of scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) which utilizes a pixelated electron detector to capture a convergent beam electron diffraction (CBED) pattern at each scan location. This technique captures a 2 dimensional reciprocal space image associated with each scan point as the beam rasters across a 2 dimensional region in real space, hence the name 4D STEM. Its development was enabled by evolution in STEM detectors and improvements computational power. The technique has applications in visual diffraction imaging, phase orientation and strain mapping, phase contrast analysis, among others.
The name 4D STEM is common in literature, however it is known by other names: 4D STEM EELS, ND STEM (N- since the number of dimensions could be higher than 4), position resolved diffraction (PRD), spatial resolved diffractometry, momentum-resolved STEM, "nanobeam precision electron diffraction", scanning electron nano diffraction (SEND), nanobeam electron diffraction (NBED), or pixelated STEM. [1]
The use of diffraction patterns as a function of position dates back to the earliest days of STEM, for instance the early review of John M. Cowley and John C. H. Spence in 1978 [2] or the analysis in 1983 by Laurence D. Marks and David J. Smith of the orientation of different crystalline segments in nanoparticles. [3] Later work includes the analysis of diffraction patterns as a function of probe position in 1995, where Peter Nellist, B.C. McCallum and John Rodenburg attempted electron ptychography analysis of crystalline silicon. [4] There is also fluctuation electron microscopy (FEM) technique, proposed in 1996 by Treacy and Gibson, which also included quantitative analysis of the differences in images or diffraction patterns taken at different locations on a given sample. [5]
The field of 4D STEM remained underdeveloped due to the limited capabilities of detectors available at the time. The earliest work used either Grigson coils to scan the diffraction pattern, [6] or an optical camera pickup from a phosphur screen. [7] Later on CCD detectors became available, but while these are commonly used in transmission electron microscopy (TEM) they had limited data acquisition rates, could not distinguish where on the detector an electron strikes with high accuracy, and had low dynamic range which made them undesirable for use in 4D STEM. [8]
In the late 2010s, the development of hybrid pixel array detectors (PAD) with single electron sensitivity, high dynamic range, and fast readout speeds allowed for practical 4D STEM experiments. [9] [10]
While the process of data collection in 4D STEM is identical to that of standard STEM, each technique utilizes different detectors and collects different data. In 4D STEM there is a pixelated electron detector located at the back focal plane which collects the CBED pattern at each scan location. An image of the sample can be constructed from the CBED patterns by selecting an area in reciprocal space and assigning the average intensity of that area in each CBED pattern to the real space pixel the pattern corresponds to.
It is also possible for there to be a(n) ADF or HAADF image taken concurrently with the CBED pattern collection, depending on where the detector is located on the microscope. An annular dark-field image taken may be complementary to a bright-field image constructed from the captured CBED images.
The use of a hollow detector with a hole in the middle can allow for transmitted electrons to be passed to an EELS detector while scanning. This allows for the simultaneous collection of chemical spectra information and structure information.
In traditional TEM, imaging detectors use phosphorescent scintillators paired with a charge coupled device (CCD) to detect electrons. [11] While these devices have good electron sensitivity, they lack the necessary readout speed and dynamic range necessary for 4D STEM. Additionally, the use of a scintillator can worsen the point spread function (PSF) of the detector due to the electron's interaction with the scintillator resulting in a broadening of the signal. In contrast, traditional annular STEM detectors have the necessary readout speed, but instead of collecting a full CBED pattern the detector integrates the collected intensity over a range of angles into a single data point. [12] The development of pixelated detectors in the 2010s with single electron sensitivity, fast readout speeds, and high dynamic range has enabled 4D STEM as a viable experimental method. [8]
4D STEM detectors are typically built as either a monolithic active pixel sensor (MAPS) or as a hybrid pixel array detector (PAD). [8]
A MAPS detector consists of a complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor (CMOS) chip paired with a doped epitaxial surface layer which converts high energy electrons into many lower energy electrons that travel down to the detector. MAPS detectors must be radiation hardened as their direct exposure to high energy electrons makes radiation damage a key concern. [13]
Due to its monolithic nature and straightforward design, MAPS detectors can attain high pixel densities on the order of 4000 x 4000. This high pixel density when paired with low electron doses can enable single electron counting for high efficiency imaging. Additionally, MAPS detectors tend to have electron high sensitivities and fast readout speeds, but suffer from limited dynamic range. [14]
PAD detectors consist of a photodiode bump bonded to an integrated circuit, where each solder bump represents a single pixel on the detector. [9]
These detectors typically have lower pixel densities on the order of 128 x 128 but can achieve much higher dynamic range on the order of 32 bits. These detectors can achieve relatively high readout speeds on the order of 1 ms/pixel but are still lacking compared to their annular detector counterparts in STEM which can achieve readout speeds on the order of 10 μs/pixel. [9] [15] [10]
Detector noise performance is often measured by its detective quantum efficiency (DQE) defined as:
where is output signal to noise ratio squared and is the input signal to noise ratio squared. Ideally the DQE of a sensor is 1 indicating the sensor generates zero noise. The DQE of MAPS, APS and other direct electron detectors tend to be higher than their CCD camera counterparts. [16] [17]
A major issue in 4D STEM is the large quantity of data collected by the technique. With upwards of 100s of TB of data produced over the course of an hour of scanning, finding pertinent information is challenging and requires advanced computation. [18]
Analysis of such large datasets can be quite complex and computational methods to process this data are being developed. Many code repositories for analysis of 4D STEM are currently in development including: HyperSpy, pyXem, LiberTEM, Pycroscopy, and py4DSTEM. [19] [20] [21] [22] [23] [8]
AI driven analysis is possible. However, some methods require databases of information to train on which currently do not exist. Additionally, lack of metrics for data quality, limited scalability due to poor cross-platform support across different manufacturers, and lack of standardization in analysis and experimental methods brings up questions of comparability across different datasets as well as reproducibility. [18]
4D STEM has been utilized in a wide array of applications, the most common uses include virtual diffraction imaging, orientation and strain mapping, and phase contrast analysis which are covered below. The technique has also been applied in: medium range order measurement, Higher order Laue zone (HOLZ) channeling contrast imaging, Position averaged CBED, fluctuation electron microscopy, biomaterials characterization, and medical fields (microstructure of pharmaceutical materials and orientation mapping of peptide crystals). This list is in no way exhaustive and as the field is still relatively young more applications are actively being developed.
Virtual diffraction imaging is a method developed to generate real space images from diffraction patterns. [8] This technique has been used in characterizing material structures since the 90s [24] but more recently has been applied in 4D STEM applications. This technique often works best with scanning electron nano diffraction (SEND), where the probe convergence angle is relatively low to give separated diffraction disks (thus also giving a resolution measured in nm, not Å). [25] A "virtual detector," is not a detector at all but rather a method of data processing which integrates a subset of pixels in diffraction patterns at each raster position to create a bright-field or dark-field image. A region of interest is selected on some representative diffraction pattern, and only those pixels within the aperture summed to form the image. This virtual aperture can be any size/shape desired and can be created using the 4D dataset gathered from a single scan. [26] This ability to apply different apertures to the same dataset is possible because of having the whole diffraction pattern in the 4D STEM dataset. This eliminates a typical weaknesses in conventional STEM operation as STEM bright-field and dark-field detectors are placed at fixed angles and cannot be changed during imaging. [27]
With a 4D dataset bright/dark-field images can be obtained by integrating diffraction intensities from diffracted and transmitted beams respectively. [25] Creating images from these patterns can give nanometer or atomic resolution information (depending on the pixel step size and the range of diffracted angles used to form the image) and is typically used to characterize the structure of nanomaterials. Additionally, these diffraction patterns can be indexed and analyzed using other 4DSTEM techniques, such as orientation and phase mapping, or strain mapping. [8] A key advantage of performing virtual diffraction imaging in 4D STEM is the flexibility. Any shape of aperture could be used: a circle (cognate with traditional TEM bright/dark field imaging), a rectangle, an annulus (cognate with STEM ADF/ABF imaging), or any combination of apertures in a more complex pattern. The use of regular grids of apertures is particularly powerful at imaging a crystal with high signal to noise and minimising the effects of bending and has been used by McCartan et al.; [28] this also allowed the imaging of an array of superlattice spots associated with a particular crystal ordering in part of the crystal as a result of chemical segregation.
Virtual diffraction imaging has been used to map interfaces, select intensity from selected areas of the diffraction plane to form enhanced dark field images, [29] map positions of nanoscale precipitates, [30] create phase maps of beam sensitive battery cathode materials, [31] and measure degree of crystallinity in metal-organic frameworks (MOFs). [32]
Recent work has further extended the possibilities of virtual diffraction imaging, by applying a more digital approach adapted from one developed for orientation and phase mapping, or strain mapping. In these methods, the diffraction spot positions in a 4D dataset are determined for each diffraction pattern and turned into a list, and operations are performed on the list, not on the whole images. For dark field imaging, the centroid positions for the list of diffraction spots can be simply compared against a list of centroid positions for where spots are expected and intensity only added where diffraction spot centroids agree with the selected positions. This gives far more selectivity than simply integrating all intensity in an aperture (particularly because it ignores diffuse intensity that does not fall in spots), and consequently, much higher contrast in the resulting images and has recently been submitted to arXiv. [33]
Phase orientation mapping is typically done with electron back scattered diffraction in SEM which can give 2D maps of grain orientation in polycrystalline materials. [34] The technique can also be done in TEM using Kikuchi lines, which is more applicable for thicker samples since formation of Kikuchi lines relies on diffuse scattering being present. Alternatively, in TEM one can utilize precession electron diffraction (PED) to record a large number of diffraction patterns and through comparison to known patterns, the relative orientation of grains in can be determined. 4D STEM can also be used to map orientations, in a technique called Bragg spot imaging[ citation needed ]. The use of traditional TEM techniques typically results in better resolution than the 4D STEM approach but can fail in regions with high strain as the DPs become too distorted[ citation needed ].
In Bragg spot imaging, first correlation analysis method is performed to group diffraction patterns (DPs) using a correlation method between 0 (no correlation) and 1 (exact match); then the DP's are grouped by their correlation using a correlation threshold. A correlation image can then be obtained from each group. These are summed and averaged to obtain an overall representative diffraction template from each grouping[ citation needed ]. Different orientations can be assigned colors which helps visualize individual grain orientations. [25] With proper tilting and utilizing precession electron diffraction (PED) it is even possible to make 3D tomographic renderings of grain orientation and distribution. [35] Since the technique is computationally intensive, recent efforts have been focused on a machine learning approach to analysis of diffraction patterns. [36] [37]
TEM can measure local strains and is often used to map strain in samples using condensed beam electron diffraction CBED. [12] The basis of this technique is to compare an unstrained region of the sample's diffraction pattern with a strained region to see the changes in the lattice parameter. With STEM, the disc positions diffracted from an area of a specimen can provide spatial strain information. The use of this technique with 4D STEM datasets includes fairly involved calculations. [8]
Utilizing SEND, bright and dark field images can be obtained from diffraction patterns by integration of direct and diffracted beams respectively, as discussed previously. During 4D STEM operation the ADF detector can be used to visualize a particular region of interest through a collection of scattered electrons to large angles to correlate probe location with diffraction during measurements. [25] There is a tradeoff between resolution and strain information; since larger probes can average strain measurements over a large volume, but moving to smaller probe sizes gives higher real space resolution. There are ways to combat this issue such as spacing probes further apart than the resolution limit to increase the field of view. [8]
This strain mapping technique has been applied in many crystalline materials and has been extended to semi-crystalline and amorphous materials (such as metallic glasses) since they too exhibit deviations from mean atomic spacing in regions of high strain [8] [38]
The differential phase contrast imaging technique (DPC) can be used in STEM to characterise magnetic and electric fields inside a thin specimen. The electric or magnetic field in samples is estimated by measuring the deflection of the electron beam caused by the field at each scan point. This differs from the more traditional annular dark field (ADF) measurements by the placement of the detector in the bright field area such that the center of mass of the (mostly) unscattered electron beam may be measured. Additionally, segmented or pixelated detectors are used in order to gain the necessary radial resolution. ADF detectors are typically monolithic (single-segment) and are placed in the dark field region, such that they collect the electrons that have been scattered by the sample. Using DPC to image the local electric fields surrounding single atoms or atomic columns is possible. [39] The use of a pixelated detector in 4D STEM and a computer to track the movement of the "center of mass" of the CBED patterns was found to provide comparable results to those found using segmented detectors. 4D STEM allows for phase change measurements along all directions to be measured without the need to rotate the segmented detector to align with specimen orientation. [40] The ability to measure local polarization in parallel with the local electric field has also been demonstrated with 4D STEM. [41]
DPC imaging with 4D STEM is up to 2 orders of magnitude slower than DPC with segmented detectors and requires advanced analysis of large four-dimensional datasets. [42]
The overlapping CBED measurements present in a 4D STEM dataset allow for the construction of the complex electron probe and complex sample potential using the ptychography technique. Ptychographic reconstructions with 4D STEM data were shown to provide higher contrast than ADF, BF, ABF, and segmented DPC imaging in STEM. The high signal-to-noise ratio of this technique under 4D STEM makes it attractive for imaging radiation sensitive specimens such as biological specimens [40] The use of a pixelated detector with a hole in the middle to allow the unscattered electron beam to pass to a spectrometer has been shown to allow ptychographic analysis in conjunction with chemical analysis in 4D STEM. [43]
This technique MIDI-STEM (matched illumination and detector interferometry-STEM), while being less common, is used with ptychography to create higher contrast phase images. The placement of a phase plate with zones of 0 and π/2 phase shift in the probe forming aperture creates a series of concentric rings in the resulting CBED pattern. The difference in counts between the 0 and π/2 regions allows for direct measurement of local sample phase. [44] The counts in the different regions could be measured via complex standard detector geometries or the use of a pixelated detector in 4D STEM. Pixelated detectors have been shown to utilize this technique with atomic resolution. [45]
(MIDI)-STEM produces image contrast information with less high-pass filtering than DPC or ptychography but is less efficient at high spatial frequencies than those techniques. [8] (MIDI)-STEM used in conjunction with ptychography has been shown to be more efficient in providing contrast information than either technique individually. [46]
Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) is a microscopy technique in which a beam of electrons is transmitted through a specimen to form an image. The specimen is most often an ultrathin section less than 100 nm thick or a suspension on a grid. An image is formed from the interaction of the electrons with the sample as the beam is transmitted through the specimen. The image is then magnified and focused onto an imaging device, such as a fluorescent screen, a layer of photographic film, or a detector such as a scintillator attached to a charge-coupled device or a direct electron detector.
Electron diffraction is a generic term for phenomena associated with changes in the direction of electron beams due to elastic interactions with atoms. It occurs due to elastic scattering, when there is no change in the energy of the electrons. The negatively charged electrons are scattered due to Coulomb forces when they interact with both the positively charged atomic core and the negatively charged electrons around the atoms. The resulting map of the directions of the electrons far from the sample is called a diffraction pattern, see for instance Figure 1. Beyond patterns showing the directions of electrons, electron diffraction also plays a major role in the contrast of images in electron microscopes.
Electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) is a scanning electron microscopy (SEM) technique used to study the crystallographic structure of materials. EBSD is carried out in a scanning electron microscope equipped with an EBSD detector comprising at least a phosphorescent screen, a compact lens and a low-light camera. In the microscope an incident beam of electrons hits a tilted sample. As backscattered electrons leave the sample, they interact with the atoms and are both elastically diffracted and lose energy, leaving the sample at various scattering angles before reaching the phosphor screen forming Kikuchi patterns (EBSPs). The EBSD spatial resolution depends on many factors, including the nature of the material under study and the sample preparation. They can be indexed to provide information about the material's grain structure, grain orientation, and phase at the micro-scale. EBSD is used for impurities and defect studies, plastic deformation, and statistical analysis for average misorientation, grain size, and crystallographic texture. EBSD can also be combined with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), cathodoluminescence (CL), and wavelength-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (WDS) for advanced phase identification and materials discovery.
Electron crystallography is a subset of methods in electron diffraction focusing upon detailed determination of the positions of atoms in solids using a transmission electron microscope (TEM). It can involve the use of high-resolution transmission electron microscopy images, electron diffraction patterns including convergent-beam electron diffraction or combinations of these. It has been successful in determining some bulk structures, and also surface structures. Two related methods are low-energy electron diffraction which has solved the structure of many surfaces, and reflection high-energy electron diffraction which is used to monitor surfaces often during growth.
A scanning transmission electron microscope (STEM) is a type of transmission electron microscope (TEM). Pronunciation is [stɛm] or [ɛsti:i:ɛm]. As with a conventional transmission electron microscope (CTEM), images are formed by electrons passing through a sufficiently thin specimen. However, unlike CTEM, in STEM the electron beam is focused to a fine spot which is then scanned over the sample in a raster illumination system constructed so that the sample is illuminated at each point with the beam parallel to the optical axis. The rastering of the beam across the sample makes STEM suitable for analytical techniques such as Z-contrast annular dark-field imaging, and spectroscopic mapping by energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) spectroscopy, or electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS). These signals can be obtained simultaneously, allowing direct correlation of images and spectroscopic data.
Electron holography is holography with electron matter waves. It was invented by Dennis Gabor in 1948 when he tried to improve image resolution in electron microscope. The first attempts to perform holography with electron waves were made by Haine and Mulvey in 1952; they recorded holograms of zinc oxide crystals with 60 keV electrons, demonstrating reconstructions with approximately 1 nm resolution. In 1955, G. Möllenstedt and H. Düker invented an electron biprism, thus enabling the recording of electron holograms in off-axis scheme. There are many different possible configurations for electron holography, with more than 20 documented in 1992 by Cowley. Usually, high spatial and temporal coherence of the electron beam are required to perform holographic measurements.
Electron tomography (ET) is a tomography technique for obtaining detailed 3D structures of sub-cellular, macro-molecular, or materials specimens. Electron tomography is an extension of traditional transmission electron microscopy and uses a transmission electron microscope to collect the data. In the process, a beam of electrons is passed through the sample at incremental degrees of rotation around the center of the target sample. This information is collected and used to assemble a three-dimensional image of the target. For biological applications, the typical resolution of ET systems are in the 5–20 nm range, suitable for examining supra-molecular multi-protein structures, although not the secondary and tertiary structure of an individual protein or polypeptide. Recently, atomic resolution in 3D electron tomography reconstructions has been demonstrated.
Ptychography is a computational method of microscopic imaging. It generates images by processing many coherent interference patterns that have been scattered from an object of interest. Its defining characteristic is translational invariance, which means that the interference patterns are generated by one constant function moving laterally by a known amount with respect to another constant function. The interference patterns occur some distance away from these two components, so that the scattered waves spread out and "fold" into one another as shown in the figure.
A Low-voltage electron microscope (LVEM) is an electron microscope which operates at accelerating voltages of a few kiloelectronvolts (keV) or less. Traditional electron microscopes use accelerating voltages in the range of 10-1000 keV.
Crystallographic image processing (CIP) is traditionally understood as being a set of key steps in the determination of the atomic structure of crystalline matter from high-resolution electron microscopy (HREM) images obtained in a transmission electron microscope (TEM) that is run in the parallel illumination mode. The term was created in the research group of Sven Hovmöller at Stockholm University during the early 1980s and became rapidly a label for the "3D crystal structure from 2D transmission/projection images" approach. Since the late 1990s, analogous and complementary image processing techniques that are directed towards the achieving of goals with are either complementary or entirely beyond the scope of the original inception of CIP have been developed independently by members of the computational symmetry/geometry, scanning transmission electron microscopy, scanning probe microscopy communities, and applied crystallography communities.
Geometric phase analysis is a method of digital signal processing used to determine crystallographic quantities such as d-spacing or strain from high-resolution transmission electron microscope images. The analysis needs to be performed using specialized computer program.
Fourier ptychography is a computational imaging technique based on optical microscopy that consists in the synthesis of a wider numerical aperture from a set of full-field images acquired at various coherent illumination angles, resulting in increased resolution compared to a conventional microscope.
Precession electron diffraction (PED) is a specialized method to collect electron diffraction patterns in a transmission electron microscope (TEM). By rotating (precessing) a tilted incident electron beam around the central axis of the microscope, a PED pattern is formed by integration over a collection of diffraction conditions. This produces a quasi-kinematical diffraction pattern that is more suitable as input into direct methods algorithms to determine the crystal structure of the sample.
Electron channelling contrast imaging (ECCI) is a scanning electron microscope (SEM) diffraction technique used in the study of defects in materials. These can be dislocations or stacking faults that are close to the surface of the sample, low angle grain boundaries or atomic steps. Unlike the use of transmission electron microscopy (TEM) for the investigation of dislocations, the ECCI approach has been called a rapid and non-destructive characterisation technique
John Marius Rodenburg is emeritus professor in the Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering at the University of Sheffield. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 2019 for "internationally recognised... work on revolutionising the imaging capability of light, X-ray and electron transmission microscopes".
There are a variety of technologies available for detecting and recording the images, diffraction patterns, and electron energy loss spectra produced using transmission electron microscopy (TEM).
Convergent beam electron diffraction (CBED) is an electron diffraction technique where a convergent or divergent beam of electrons is used to study materials.
CrysTBox is a suite of computer tools designed to accelerate material research based on transmission electron microscope images via highly accurate automated analysis and interactive visualization. Relying on artificial intelligence and computer vision, CrysTBox makes routine crystallographic analyses simpler, faster and more accurate compared to human evaluators. The high level of automation together with sub-pixel precision and interactive visualization makes the quantitative crystallographic analysis accessible even for non-crystallographers allowing for an interdisciplinary research. Simultaneously, experienced material scientists can take advantage of advanced functionalities for comprehensive analyses.
Transmission Kikuchi Diffraction (TKD), also sometimes called transmission-electron backscatter diffraction (t-EBSD), is a method for orientation mapping at the nanoscale. It’s used for analysing the microstructures of thin transmission electron microscopy (TEM) specimens in the scanning electron microscope (SEM). This technique has been widely utilised in the characterization of nano-crystalline materials, including oxides, superconductors, and metallic alloys.
Dark-field X-ray microscopy is an imaging technique used for multiscale structural characterisation. It is capable of mapping deeply embedded structural elements with nm-resolution using synchrotron X-ray diffraction-based imaging. The technique works by using scattered X-rays to create a high degree of contrast, and by measuring the intensity and spatial distribution of the diffracted beams, it is possible to obtain a three-dimensional map of the sample's structure, orientation, and local strain.