Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

The revolution in nanoscale science and technology requires instrumentation for observation and metrology - we must be able to see and measure what we build. Because nano-devices operate on the level of a few molecules, or even a few atoms, accurate atomic-scale imaging is called for. High-resolution aberration-corrected electron microscopes (both TEM and STEM) can provide valuable measurements at the sub-Angstrom level. Over the next decade, extension of TEM and STEM resolutions to half-Angstrom levels by next-generation aberration-corrected electron microscopes will advance the capabilities of these essential tools for atomic-scale structural characterization. Because improvements in resolution allow for separation of atom columns in many more projection directions, these microscopes will provide much improved three-dimensional characterization of the shape and internal structure of nanodevices and catalyst nanoparticles (perhaps even true 3-D imaging), and hence provide essential feedback in the nano-theory/construction/measurement loop.