Breakthroughs in materials science research depend on fast and reliable high-resolution information that allows you to optimize a material’s performance. A complete understanding of your material necessitates the use of advanced characterization techniques alongside compositional and structural data in 2D and 3D.

This means you need access to robust, precise instrumentation capable of giving you the highest-resolution atomic-scale information possible. Scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) is capable of providing high-quality data by combining the principles of transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Like TEM, STEM requires very thin samples and looks primarily at beam electrons transmitted by the sample. One of STEM’s principal advantages over TEM is that it enables the use of other signals that cannot be spatially correlated in TEM, including characteristic X-rays and electron energy loss spectra.

Like SEM, the STEM technique scans a very finely focused beam of electrons across the sample in a raster pattern. Interactions between the beam electrons and sample atoms generate a simultaneous acquisition of multi-modal data signal stream, which is correlated with beam position to build a virtual image in which the signal level at any location in the sample is represented by the gray level at the corresponding location in the image. Its primary advantage over conventional SEM imaging is the improvement in spatial resolution.

With STEM, extremely localized analytical data can be collected for your sample. This includes large-area, high-resolution EDS maps, probing of oxidation states using EELS, and atomic resolution imaging of material interfaces.

Thermo Fisher Scientific’s STEM product line features accelerated imaging and analysis through simplified/automated operation, offering higher data quality and faster acquisition times. It also combines outstanding high-resolution STEM imaging with unparalleled advances in EDS signal detection for compositional mapping and 3D chemical characterization with the Thermo Scientific Dual-X and Super-X EDS Detectors. Thermo Fisher Scientific STEM platforms are suited for multi-user and multi-discipline environments by combining all applications in a single system.