Phasenkontrast-Transmissionselektronenmikroskopie mit Dünnfilm- und elektrostatischen Phasenplatten

Phase plates (PP) for transmission electron microscopy (TEM) enable imaging of phase objects with high contrast. In this work, the contrast-enhancing capabilities and artifacts of electrostatic Zach-PP, hole-free thin-film PP and Zernike PP were analyzed by experimental and simulated images of a biological model sample (bacteriophages). The threedimensional structure reconstruction of a biological object was obtained for the first time by tomography on the basis of Zach-PP TEM images. Moreover, the reduction of intensity oscillations (“fringing” artifacts) around imaged objects in Zernike-PP TEM images was achieved by a microstructured thickness gradient at the edge of the Zernike-PP hole.