Acquisition of a fast and highly sensitive camera to equip the ultra-high resolution transmission electron microscope Titan E-TEM "Nanomax"

Equipement, AAP 2017

Team : Center for Nanosciences and Nanotechnologies (C2N)

Project leader : Gilles Patriarche

Abstract :

Many of the materials studied by the DIM teams are particularly sensitive to electron irradiation. This makes it difficult, if not impossible, to observe them in transmission electron microscopy, particularly in high resolution mode (HRTEM).

The acquisition of an ultra-sensitive and ultra-fast camera to equip the ultra-high resolution transmission electron microscope Nanomax must allow to observe the in-situ growth (up to 1200 images per second for an image format of 1900 by 580 pixels) of nanostructures very sensitive to electron irradiation. In addition to in-situ observation, this camera will also allow the study of objects and nanostructures highly sensitive to electron irradiation, in particular organic objects (cyclodextrin nanotubes, labeled proteins ...) or nanostructures such as porous hybrid solids (MOF), nano-porous aluminas. This type of high-speed direct-sensing camera, working at 40 ms per image, allows the correction of the drift in real time.

We will install this type of camera on the Nanomax transmission electron microscope, equipped with a geometric aberration corrector in TEM mode, and installed recently at the Ecole Polytechnique (Palaiseau) and acquired as part of the Equipex TEMPOS project. This microscope can operate with an acceleration voltage between 80 and 300 keV. This equipment will be the only transmission electron microscope corrected for geometric aberrations with an ultra-sensitive rapid detection camera in France.

The installation of the camera is scheduled for June 2018.

Image HRTEM à 200kV d’une nanoparticule MIL-100Fe obtenue sur une caméra K2 Summit. La nanoparticule est orientée en axe de zone <111>. L’acquisition a été faite en mode fractionnée sur une seconde (une correction de drift a été réalisée entre les images), la dose totale d’irradiation est de 5.3 électrons par Angstrom carré. L’observation a été faite sur un microscope JeolF200 par GatanUS.

HRTEM image (200 kV) of a MIL-100Fe nanoparticle obtained with a K2 Summit camera. Nanoparticle observed in <111>zone axis. Fractional acquisition over 1 second (realigned and summed images). Total irradiation dose: 5.3 electrons per Angstrom square. Sample observed on a Jeol F200 microscope by Gatan US.

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