Nanobeam strain analysis using STEMx system and your existing Gatan in-situ camera

Gatan instruments 

The STEMx^® system leverages eaSI™ technology to synchronize the STEM probe with the Gatan in-situ camera’s fast frame rate to acquire high-quality 4D STEM datasets at high speed.

Background

Strain and its spatial distribution are closely related to the mechanical and electrical properties of materials. Strain analysis at high spatial resolution (nanometer range), requires electron microscopy. While scanning electron microscopy-based techniques, such as electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) or transmission-EBSD, can provide strain distribution information from large fields of view (hundreds of microns or larger), their spatial resolution is often limited to >10 nm. Two common STEM methods for high-resolution (~1 nm) strain analysis are the geometric phase analysis (GPA) method, which uses atomic column positions from HR STEM images, and the 4D STEM method, which uses nanobeam diffraction patterns. 4D STEM is the collection of diffraction images at each pixel position as the electron probe scans the specimen. The STEMx system leverages eaSI technology to synchronize the scanning probe with Gatan cameras and provides workflows for 4D STEM data collection and processing (e.g., strain mapping, orientation mapping, virtual imaging, DPC imaging).