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Carbon‐film‐based Zernike phase plates with smooth thickness gradient for phase‐contrast transmission electron microscopy with reduced fringing artefacts

Obermair, M. 1; Hettler, S. 1; Dries, M. 1; Hugenschmidt, M. ORCID iD icon 1,2; Spiecker, R. 1,3; Gerthsen, D. 1,2
1 Laboratorium für Elektronenmikroskopie (LEM), Karlsruher Institut für Technologie (KIT)
2 3D Matter Made to Order (3DMM2O), Karlsruher Institut für Technologie (KIT)
3 Laboratorium für Applikationen der Synchrotronstrahlung (LAS), Karlsruher Institut für Technologie (KIT)

Abstract:

Phase plates (PPs) in transmission electron microscopy (TEM) improve the contrast of weakly scattering objects under in-focus imaging conditions. A well-established PP type is the Zernike (Z)PP, which consists of a thin amorphous carbon (aC) film with a microscaled hole in the centre. The mean inner potential of the aC film is exploited to shift the phase of the scattered electrons while the unscattered electrons in the zero-order beam propagate through the hole and remain unaffected. However, the abrupt thickness increase at the hole edge induces an abrupt change of the phase-shift distribution and leads to fringing, that is, intensity oscillations around imaged objects, in TEM images. In this work, we have used focused-ion-beam milling to fabricate ZPPs with abrupt and graded thickness profiles around the centre hole. Depending on the thickness gradient and inner hole radius, graded-ZPP-TEM images of an aC/vacuum interface and bundles of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) show strongly reduced fringing. Image simulations were performed with ZPP-phase-shift distributions derived from measured thickness profiles of graded ZPPs, which show good agreement with the experimental images.
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Verlagsausgabe §
DOI: 10.5445/IR/1000146533
Veröffentlicht am 21.10.2022
Originalveröffentlichung
DOI: 10.1111/jmi.13108
Scopus
Zitationen: 1
Web of Science
Zitationen: 1
Dimensions
Zitationen: 2
Cover der Publikation
Zugehörige Institution(en) am KIT 3D Matter Made to Order (3DMM2O)
Laboratorium für Applikationen der Synchrotronstrahlung (LAS)
Laboratorium für Elektronenmikroskopie (LEM)
Publikationstyp Zeitschriftenaufsatz
Publikationsjahr 2022
Sprache Englisch
Identifikator ISSN: 0022-2720, 0368-3974, 0962-7375, 1365-2818, 1747-…7-3497, 1747-3500, 2047-1483, 2047-1491, 2047-9751
KITopen-ID: 1000146533
Weitere HGF-Programme 56.13.11 (POF IV, LK 01) Building Blocks of Life: Structure and Function
Erschienen in Journal of Microscopy
Verlag John Wiley and Sons
Band 287
Heft 1
Seiten 45-58
Vorab online veröffentlicht am 04.05.2022
Nachgewiesen in Web of Science
Dimensions
Scopus
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