Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

We have demonstrated sub-Angstrom TEM to a resolution of 0.78 Angstrom with the one-Angstrom microscope (OAM) project at the National Center for Electron Microscopy. The OAM combines a modified CM300FEG-UT with computer software able to generate sub-Angstrom images from experimental image series. We achieved sub-Angstrom resolution with the OAM by paying close attention to detail. We placed the TEM in a favorable environment. We reduced its three-fold astigmatism A2 from 2.46mm to 300 Angstrom (corresponding to transfer of 0.68 Angstrom spacings at a pi/4 phase limit). We improved its information limit by minimizing high-voltage and lens current ripple. Energy spread of 0.93eV FWHH gave a focus spread of 20 Angstrom and an information limit of 0.78 Angstrom, allowing successful resolution of the 0.89 Angstrom (400) atom spacings in [110] diamond. As a further test, we reduced the electron gun extraction voltage to 3kV to improve our information limit to 0.75 Angstrom, and then imaged 0.7 Angstrom (444) atom spacings in [112] silicon as distinct pairs of 'white atoms' near an alpha-null defocus of -3783 Angstrom.