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An electron microscope can record very small images with a resolution of 0.5 Å.

A research group comprised of scientists from CEOS GmbH (Heidelberg, Germany), FEI Co. (Hillsboro, OR, USA), and the National Center for Electron Microscopy (Berkeley, CA, USA) has recorded images with a resolution of 0.5 Å—roughly four times smaller than the diameter of a carbon atom. Reportedly the highest resolution images ever recorded in an electron microscope, the breakthrough is a result of the Transmission Electron Aberration-Corrected Microscope (TEAM) Project, which is supported by the US Department of Energy.

The scientists recorded the image using the Titan microscope developed by FEI Co. The microscope uses transmission electron microscopy and scanning transmission electron microscopy and employs two spherical aberration correctors to compensate for the distortion typically created by electron microscope lenses.

The achievement is expected to facilitate the study of atomic-scale structure and eventually result in improved understanding of how atoms respond to various external factors and how they combine to form various materials. “We look forward to transferring the performance of the TEAM microscope into a tool for exploration of atomic structure in the nanoworld,” says TEAM project director Ulrich Dahmen. The researchers expect the imaging breakthrough to result in the development of novel nanomaterials and the discovery of new ways of harvesting energy.

For more information, contact the TEAM Proj­ect, National Center for Electron Microscopy, MS 72-150, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720-8250, USA; phone: +1 510 4866036; fax: +1 510 4865888; e-mail: jlcavlina@ lbl.gov; Internet: http://ncem.lbl.gov/TEAM-project.