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Title: Accurate measurement of relative tilt and azimuth angles in electron tomography: A comparison of fiducial marker method with electron diffraction

Journal Article · · Review of Scientific Instruments
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4892436· OSTI ID:22314421
 [1]; ;  [2]; ;  [2]
  1. National Metrology Institute of Japan, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), 1-1-1, Higashi, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8565 (Japan)
  2. National Institute for Nanotechnology, 11421 Saskatchewan Drive, Edmonton T6G 2M9 (Canada)

Electron tomography is a method whereby a three-dimensional reconstruction of a nanoscale object is obtained from a series of projected images measured in a transmission electron microscope. We developed an electron-diffraction method to measure the tilt and azimuth angles, with Kikuchi lines used to align a series of diffraction patterns obtained with each image of the tilt series. Since it is based on electron diffraction, the method is not affected by sample drift and is not sensitive to sample thickness, whereas tilt angle measurement and alignment using fiducial-marker methods are affected by both sample drift and thickness. The accuracy of the diffraction method benefits reconstructions with a large number of voxels, where both high spatial resolution and a large field of view are desired. The diffraction method allows both the tilt and azimuth angle to be measured, while fiducial marker methods typically treat the tilt and azimuth angle as an unknown parameter. The diffraction method can be also used to estimate the accuracy of the fiducial marker method, and the sample-stage accuracy. A nano-dot fiducial marker measurement differs from a diffraction measurement by no more than ±1°.

OSTI ID:
22314421
Journal Information:
Review of Scientific Instruments, Vol. 85, Issue 8; Other Information: (c) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0034-6748
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English