Abstract
The ability to probe and control matter at the picometer scale is essential for advancing quantum and energy technologies. Scanning transmission electron microscopy offers powerful capabilities for materials analysis and modification, but sample damage, drift, and scan distortions hinder single atom analysis and deterministic manipulation. Materials analysis and modification via electron–solid interactions can be transformed by precise delivery of electrons to a specified atomic location, maintaining the beam position despite drift, and minimizing collateral dose. Here a fast, low-dose, sub-20-pm precision electron beam positioning technique is developed, “atomic lock-on,” (ALO), which offers the ability to position the beam on a specific atomic column without previously irradiating that column. This technique is used to lock onto a single selected atomic location to repeatedly measure its weak electron energy loss signal despite sample drift. Moreover, electron beam-matter interactions in single atomic events are measured with (Formula presented.) time resolution. This enables observation of single-atom dynamics, such as atomic bistability, revealing partially bonded atomic configurations and recapture phenomena. This opens prospects for using electron microscopy for high-precision measurements and deterministic control of matter for quantum technologies.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | e02551 |
| Journal | Advanced Science |
| Volume | 12 |
| Issue number | 34 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Sep 11 2025 |
Funding
J.K. and F.M.R. acknowledge funding through the NSF Trailblazer Award Number 2421694 and DOE‐BES Award Number DE‐SC0025387 and DE‐AC05‐00OR22725. This research was supported by the Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences (CNMS), which is a US Department of Energy, Office of Science User Facility at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The authors acknowledge the MIT SuperCloud and Lincoln Laboratory Supercomputing Center for providing resources that have contributed to the research results reported within this article. The authors gratefully acknowledge Zdenek Sofer for providing CrSBr bulk material and Joshua Robinson for providing V doped MoS and Kai Xiao for WS materials. 2 2 This manuscript has been authored by UT‐Battelle, LLC, under contract DE‐AC05‐00OR22725 with the US Department of Energy (DOE). The US government retains and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the US government retains a nonexclusive, paid‐up, irrevocable, worldwide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this manuscript, or allow others to do so, for US government purposes. DOE will provide public access to these results of federally sponsored research in accordance with the DOE Public Access Plan ( https://www.energy.gov/doe‐public‐access‐plan ).
Keywords
- 2D materials
- atomic manipulation
- electron beam positioning
- electron microscopy
- spectroscopy