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HAADF-STEM Image Resolution Enhancement Using High-Quality Image Reconstruction Techniques: Case of the Fe3O4(111) Surface

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 August 2019

G. Bárcena-González Open the ORCID record for G. Bárcena-González [Opens in a new window] ,
M. P. Guerrero-Lebrero ,
E. Guerrero ,
A. Yañez ,
B. Nuñez-Moraleda ,
D. Kepaptsoglou ,
V. K. Lazarov  and
P. L. Galindo
G. Bárcena-González*
Affiliation:
Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Universidad de Cádiz, 11510 Puerto Real, Spain
M. P. Guerrero-Lebrero
Affiliation:
Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Universidad de Cádiz, 11510 Puerto Real, Spain
E. Guerrero
Affiliation:
Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Universidad de Cádiz, 11510 Puerto Real, Spain
A. Yañez
Affiliation:
Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Universidad de Cádiz, 11510 Puerto Real, Spain
B. Nuñez-Moraleda
Affiliation:
Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Universidad de Cádiz, 11510 Puerto Real, Spain
D. Kepaptsoglou
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, University of York, Heslington, York, UK SuperSTEM Laboratory, SciTech Daresbury Campus, Daresbury WA4 4AD, UK
V. K. Lazarov
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, University of York, Heslington, York, UK
P. L. Galindo
Affiliation:
Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Universidad de Cádiz, 11510 Puerto Real, Spain
*
*Author for correspondence: G. Bárcena-González, E-mail: guillermo.barcena@uca.es
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Abstract

From simple averaging to more sophisticated registration and restoration strategies, such as super-resolution (SR), there exist different computational techniques that use a series of images of the same object to generate enhanced images where noise and other distortions have been reduced. In this work, we provide qualitative and quantitative measurements of this enhancement for high-angle annular dark-field scanning transmission electron microscopy imaging. These images are compared in two ways, qualitatively through visual inspection in real and reciprocal space, and quantitatively, through the calculation of objective measurements, such as signal-to-noise ratio and atom column roundness. Results show that these techniques improve the quality of the images. In this paper, we use an SR methodology that allows us to take advantage of the information present in the image frames and to reliably facilitate the analysis of more difficult regions of interest in experimental images, such as surfaces and interfaces. By acquiring a series of cross-sectional experimental images of magnetite (Fe3O4) thin films (111), we have generated interpolated images using averaging and SR, and reconstructed the atomic structure of the very top surface layer that consists of a full monolayer of Fe, with topmost Fe atoms in tetrahedrally coordinated sites.

Keywords

alignmentdrift distortionHAADF imagesimage disturbancesreconstructionscan noise
Type
Materials Applications
Information
Microscopy and Microanalysis , Volume 25 , Issue 6 , December 2019 , pp. 1297 - 1303
Copyright
Copyright © Microscopy Society of America 2019 

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