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Three-Dimensional Optical Sectioning by Scanning Confocal Electron Microscopy with a Stage-Scanning System

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 March 2010

Ayako Hashimoto ,
Masayuki Shimojo ,
Kazutaka Mitsuishi  and
Masaki Takeguchi
Ayako Hashimoto*
Affiliation:
International Center for Young Scientists, National Institute for Materials Science, 1-2-1 Sengen, Tsukuba 305-0047, Japan
Masayuki Shimojo
Affiliation:
High Voltage Electron Microscopy Station, National Institute for Materials Science, 3-13 Sakura, Tsukuba 305-0003, Japan Advanced Science Research Laboratory, Saitama Institute of Technology, 1690 Fusaiji, Fukaya 369-0293, Japan
Kazutaka Mitsuishi
Affiliation:
High Voltage Electron Microscopy Station, National Institute for Materials Science, 3-13 Sakura, Tsukuba 305-0003, Japan Quantum Dot Research Center, National Institute for Materials Science, 3-13 Sakura, Tsukuba 305-0003, Japan
Masaki Takeguchi
Affiliation:
High Voltage Electron Microscopy Station, National Institute for Materials Science, 3-13 Sakura, Tsukuba 305-0003, Japan Advanced Nano-characterization Center, National Institute for Materials Science, 3-13 Sakura, Tsukuba 305-0003, Japan
*
Corresponding author. E-mail: Hashimoto.Ayako@nims.go.jp
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Abstract

We evaluated the depth resolution of annular dark-field (ADF) scanning confocal electron microscopy (SCEM) with a stage-scanning system by observation of nanoparticles. ADF-SCEM is a three-dimensional (3D) imaging technique that we recently proposed. An ADF-SCEM instrument involves a pinhole aperture before a detector for rejecting electrons from the out-of-focal plane in a specimen and an annular aperture under the specimen for collecting only scattered electrons. The stage-scanning system enables us to directly obtain optical slice images perpendicular and parallel to an optical axis at a desired position. In particular, the parallel slices visualize the elongation of nanoparticles along the optical axis, which depends on the depth resolution. ADF-SCEM effectively reduced the elongation length of the nanoparticles sufficiently to demonstrate depth sectioning, in comparison with scanning transmission electron microscopy and bright-field SCEM. The experimentally obtained length was nearly equal to the theoretically estimated one from the probe size considering the experimental conditions. Furthermore, we applied this ADF-SCEM technique to analysis of the 3D position of catalytic nanoparticles on carbon nanostructures.

Keywords

scanning confocal electron microscopythree-dimensional imagingoptical sectioningstage scanningannular dark-field imagingnanoparticles
Type
Instrumentation and Software: Development and Applications
Information
Microscopy and Microanalysis , Volume 16 , Issue 3 , June 2010 , pp. 233 - 238
Copyright
Copyright © Microscopy Society of America 2010

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References

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