Combined scanning transmission electron microscopy tilt- and focal series

Tim Dahmen, Jean Pierre Baudoin, Andrew R. Lupini, Christian Kübel, Philipp Slusallek, Niels De Jonge

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    21 Scopus citations

    Abstract

    In this study, a combined tilt- and focal series is proposed as a new recording scheme for high-angle annular dark-field scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) tomography. Three-dimensional (3D) data were acquired by mechanically tilting the specimen, and recording a through-focal series at each tilt direction. The sample was a whole-mount macrophage cell with embedded gold nanoparticles. The tilt-focal algebraic reconstruction technique (TF-ART) is introduced as a new algorithm to reconstruct tomograms from such combined tilt- and focal series. The feasibility of TF-ART was demonstrated by 3D reconstruction of the experimental 3D data. The results were compared with a conventional STEM tilt series of a similar sample. The combined tilt- and focal series led to smaller missing wedge artifacts, and a higher axial resolution than obtained for the STEM tilt series, thus improving on one of the main issues of tilt series-based electron tomography.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)548-560
    Number of pages13
    JournalMicroscopy and Microanalysis
    Volume20
    Issue number2
    DOIs
    StatePublished - Apr 2014

    Keywords

    • 3D
    • 3D reconstruction
    • SART
    • STEM
    • back projection
    • focal series
    • nanoparticle
    • tomography
    • whole cell

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