UltramicroscopyPub Date : 2024-02-15DOI: 10.1016/j.ultramic.2024.113937
Vadimas Ivinskij , Antanas Zinovicius , Andrius Dzedzickis , Jurga Subaciute-Zemaitiene , Juste Rozene , Vytautas Bucinskas , Eugenijus Macerauskas , Sonata Tolvaisiene , Inga Morkvenaite-Vilkonciene
{"title":"Fast detection of micro-objects using scanning electrochemical microscopy based on visual recognition and machine learning","authors":"Vadimas Ivinskij , Antanas Zinovicius , Andrius Dzedzickis , Jurga Subaciute-Zemaitiene , Juste Rozene , Vytautas Bucinskas , Eugenijus Macerauskas , Sonata Tolvaisiene , Inga Morkvenaite-Vilkonciene","doi":"10.1016/j.ultramic.2024.113937","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ultramic.2024.113937","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Scanning electrochemical microscopy (SECM) is a scanning probe microscope with an ultramicroelectrode (UME) as a probe. The technique is advantageous in the characterization of the electrochemical properties of surfaces. However, the limitations, such as slow imaging and many functions depending on the user, only allow us to use some of the possibilities. Therefore, we applied visual recognition and machine learning to detect micro-objects from the image and determine their electrochemical activity. The reconstruction of the image from several approach curves allows it to scan faster and detect active areas of the sample. Therefore, the scanning time and presence of the user is diminished. An automated scanning electrochemical microscope with visual recognition has been developed using commercially available modules, relatively low-cost components, design, software solutions proven in other fields, and an original control and data fusion algorithm.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":23439,"journal":{"name":"Ultramicroscopy","volume":"259 ","pages":"Article 113937"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2024-02-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139738274","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Framework of compressive sensing and data compression for 4D-STEM","authors":"Hsu-Chih Ni , Renliang Yuan , Jiong Zhang , Jian-Min Zuo","doi":"10.1016/j.ultramic.2024.113938","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ultramic.2024.113938","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Four-dimensional Scanning Transmission Electron Microscopy (4D-STEM) is a powerful technique for high-resolution and high-precision materials characterization at multiple length scales, including the characterization of beam-sensitive materials. However, the field of view of 4D-STEM is relatively small, which in absence of live processing is limited by the data size required for storage. Furthermore, the rectilinear scan approach currently employed in 4D-STEM places a resolution- and signal-dependent dose limit for the study of beam sensitive materials. Improving 4D-STEM data and dose efficiency, by keeping the data size manageable while limiting the amount of electron dose, is thus critical for broader applications. Here we introduce a general method for reconstructing 4D-STEM data with subsampling in both real and reciprocal spaces at high fidelity. The approach is first tested on the subsampled datasets created from a full 4D-STEM dataset, and then demonstrated experimentally using random scan in real-space. The same reconstruction algorithm can also be used for compression of 4D-STEM datasets, leading to a large reduction (100 times or more) in data size, while retaining the fine features of 4D-STEM imaging, for crystalline samples.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":23439,"journal":{"name":"Ultramicroscopy","volume":"259 ","pages":"Article 113938"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2024-02-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0304399124000172/pdfft?md5=8e2f018c37eccbf882d300e115155e45&pid=1-s2.0-S0304399124000172-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139733423","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
UltramicroscopyPub Date : 2024-02-08DOI: 10.1016/j.ultramic.2024.113936
Shahar Seifer , Lothar Houben , Michael Elbaum
{"title":"Quantitative atomic cross section analysis by 4D-STEM and EELS","authors":"Shahar Seifer , Lothar Houben , Michael Elbaum","doi":"10.1016/j.ultramic.2024.113936","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ultramic.2024.113936","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>We demonstrate the use of a 4-dimensional scanning transmission electron microscope (4D-STEM) to extract atomic cross section information in amorphous materials. We measure the scattering amplitudes of 200 keV electrons in several representative specimens: amorphous carbon, silica, amorphous ice of pure water, and vitrified phosphate buffer solution. Diffraction patterns are recorded by 4D-STEM with or without energy filter at the zero-loss peak. In addition, Electron Energy Loss Spectroscopy (EELS) data are acquired at several thicknesses and energies. Mixed elastic and inelastic contributions for thick samples can be decoupled based on a convolution model. Measured differential cross sections between 1 and 3 mrad are due primarily to plasmon excitations and follow precisely a 1/θ<sup>2</sup> angular distribution. The measured intensities match Inokuti's calculations of total dipole matrix elements for discrete dipole transitions alone, i.e., transitions to bound states of the atom and not to continuum states. We describe the fundamental mechanism of plasmon excitation in insulators as a two-step interaction process with a fast electron. First, a target electron in the specimen is excited, the probability for which follows from the availability of atomic transitions, with a strong dependence on the column of the periodic table. Second, the dielectric response of the material determines the energy loss. The energy of the loss peak depends primarily on the valence electrons. Elastic scattering is dominant at higher angles, and can be fitted conveniently to 1/θ<sup>3.7</sup> with a linear dependence on atomic number for light atoms. In order to facilitate the interpretation of 4D STEM measurements in terms of material composition, we introduce two key parameters. Zeta is an analytical equivalent of classical STEM Z-contrast, determined by the ratio of elastic to inelastic scattering coefficients, while eta is the elastic coefficient divided by thickness. The two parameters may serve for identification of basic classes of materials in biological and other amorphous organic specimens.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":23439,"journal":{"name":"Ultramicroscopy","volume":"259 ","pages":"Article 113936"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2024-02-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0304399124000159/pdfft?md5=4a1a0e05657a9dfb8c78654366c118e7&pid=1-s2.0-S0304399124000159-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139733425","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
UltramicroscopyPub Date : 2024-02-06DOI: 10.1016/j.ultramic.2024.113935
Rudolf M. Tromp
{"title":"Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy in a low energy electron microscope","authors":"Rudolf M. Tromp","doi":"10.1016/j.ultramic.2024.113935","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ultramic.2024.113935","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Energy-Dispersive X-Ray Spectroscopy (EDS) is a technique frequently used in Scanning and Transmission Electron Microscopes to study the elemental composition of a sample. Briefly, high energy electrons of the incident electron beam may ionize an electron from a core shell. The decay of this excited state may result in the emission of a characteristic X-ray photon or Auger-Meitner electron. A solid-state EDS detector captures the X-ray photon and determines its energy. The energy spectrum thus contains information on the elemental make-up of the sample. Low Energy Electron Microscopy (LEEM) typically utilizes incident electrons with energies in the range 0–100 eV, insufficient for the generation of elemental X-rays. In general, LEEM does therefore not allow for elemental characterization of the sample under study. Here we show how relatively simple modifications and additions to the LEEM instrument make in-situ EDS spectroscopy possible, and how high-quality EDS spectra can be obtained, thus enabling elemental analysis in LEEM instruments for the first time.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":23439,"journal":{"name":"Ultramicroscopy","volume":"259 ","pages":"Article 113935"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2024-02-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139708003","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
UltramicroscopyPub Date : 2024-02-01DOI: 10.1016/j.ultramic.2024.113928
Masayuki Kamaya
{"title":"Correction of step size dependency in local misorientation obtained by EBSD measurements: Introducing equidistant local misorientation","authors":"Masayuki Kamaya","doi":"10.1016/j.ultramic.2024.113928","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ultramic.2024.113928","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>The local misorientation, known as KAM, is affected by both the step size (representing the spacing of measurement points applied in orientation measurements) and the point distance (indicating the distance between the points used in the misorientation calculation). The point distance can be increased by selecting surrounding points that are far from the target point. This study proposed the concept of an equidistant local misorientation, for which surrounding points at the same point distance from the target point were selected to calculate misorientation. An arbitrary point distance can be set for the equidistant local misorientation regardless of the step size. The changes in equidistant local misorientation for various point distances were calculated for the crystal orientation datasets obtained with different step sizes and measurement grids (square or hexagonal) using Type 316 stainless steel specimens, in which plastic strain of about 5 % was induced. It was shown that the equidistant local misorientation was identical regardless of the step size and measurement grid when the same point distance was used. Then, it was concluded that the difference in the local misorientation which emanated from the difference in step size could be corrected by employing the equidistant local misorientation. Increasing the point distance improved the signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio in the mapping data of the equidistant local misorientation. However, the results suggested that the maximum point distance for enhancing the S/N ratio should be within 30 % of the average grain size. On the other hand, decreasing the step size by keeping the point distance constant was found not to improve the S/N ratio, while it enhanced the spatial resolution of the mapping data.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":23439,"journal":{"name":"Ultramicroscopy","volume":"259 ","pages":"Article 113928"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2024-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139674934","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
UltramicroscopyPub Date : 2024-01-24DOI: 10.1016/j.ultramic.2024.113923
M.D. Décima, G.E. Castellano, J.C. Trincavelli, A.C. Carreras
{"title":"X-ray production cross sections for Ir and Bi M-subshells induced by electron impact","authors":"M.D. Décima, G.E. Castellano, J.C. Trincavelli, A.C. Carreras","doi":"10.1016/j.ultramic.2024.113923","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ultramic.2024.113923","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>M-subshell X-ray production cross sections were indirectly measured for Ir and Bi targets irradiated with monoenergetic electron beams. The projectile energy range ran from 2.2 to 28 keV, impinging on Ir and Bi pure bulk targets in a scanning electron microscope. The resulting X-ray emission spectra were acquired with an energy dispersive spectrometer, and processed afterwards by means of a robust parameter optimization procedure developed previously. X-ray production cross sections were finally obtained through an approach involving an analytical prediction for the emission spectra, which relies on the ionization depth distribution function. The values obtained by this approach were compared with empirical and theoretical predictions, appealing to different relaxation data taken from the literature.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":23439,"journal":{"name":"Ultramicroscopy","volume":"259 ","pages":"Article 113923"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2024-01-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139555486","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
UltramicroscopyPub Date : 2024-01-24DOI: 10.1016/j.ultramic.2024.113927
Leonardo M. Corrêa , Eduardo Ortega , Arturo Ponce , Mônica A. Cotta , Daniel Ugarte
{"title":"High precision orientation mapping from 4D-STEM precession electron diffraction data through quantitative analysis of diffracted intensities","authors":"Leonardo M. Corrêa , Eduardo Ortega , Arturo Ponce , Mônica A. Cotta , Daniel Ugarte","doi":"10.1016/j.ultramic.2024.113927","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ultramic.2024.113927","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>The association of scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) and detection of a diffraction pattern at each probe position (so-called 4D-STEM) represents one of the most promising approaches to analyze structural properties of materials with nanometric resolution and low irradiation levels. This is widely used for texture analysis of materials using automated crystal orientation mapping (ACOM). Herein, we perform orientation mapping in InP nanowires exploiting precession electron diffraction (PED) patterns acquired by an axial CMOS camera. Crystal orientation is determined at each probe position by the quantitative analysis of diffracted intensities minimizing a residue comparing experiments and simulations in analogy to x-ray structural refinement. Our simulations are based on the two-beam dynamical diffraction approximation and yield a high angular precision (∼0.03°), much lower than the traditional ACOM based on pattern matching algorithms (∼1°). We anticipate that simultaneous exploration of both spot positions and high precision crystal misorientation will allow the exploration of the whole potentiality provided by PED-based 4D-STEM for the characterization of deformation fields in nanomaterials.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":23439,"journal":{"name":"Ultramicroscopy","volume":"259 ","pages":"Article 113927"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2024-01-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139555548","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
UltramicroscopyPub Date : 2024-01-20DOI: 10.1016/j.ultramic.2024.113924
Wei Li , Xingui Zhou , Jingchao Xu , Ruyue Zhang , Lizhao Lai , Yi Zeng , Hong Miao
{"title":"Accurate and fast localization of EBSD pattern centers for screen moving technology","authors":"Wei Li , Xingui Zhou , Jingchao Xu , Ruyue Zhang , Lizhao Lai , Yi Zeng , Hong Miao","doi":"10.1016/j.ultramic.2024.113924","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ultramic.2024.113924","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>The authors of this study develop an accurate and fast method for the localization of the pattern centers (PCs) in the electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) technique by using the model of deformation of screen moving technology. The proposed algorithm is divided into two steps: (a) Approximation: We use collinear feature points to obtain the initial value of the coordinates of the PC and the zoom factor. (b) Subdivision: We then construct a deformation function containing the three parameters to be solved, select a large region for global registration, use the inverse compositional Gauss–Newton (ICGN) to optimize the objective function, and obtain the results of iteration of the PC and the zoom factor. The proposed algorithm was applied to simulated patterns, and yielded an accuracy of measurement of the PCs that was better than <span><math><mrow><mn>4.6</mn><mo>×</mo><msup><mn>10</mn><mrow><mo>−</mo><mn>6</mn></mrow></msup></mrow></math></span> of their resolution while taking only 0.2 s for computations. Moreover, the proposed algorithm has a large radius of convergence that makes it robust to the initial estimate. We also discuss the influence of factors of mechanical instability on its results of calibration during the insertion of the detector, and show that errors in measurements caused by the tilt motion of the camera are related only to the tilt angle of its motion and the detector distance, and are unrelated to the distance moved by it.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":23439,"journal":{"name":"Ultramicroscopy","volume":"259 ","pages":"Article 113924"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2024-01-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139516628","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
UltramicroscopyPub Date : 2024-01-16DOI: 10.1016/j.ultramic.2024.113925
Raissa Lima de Oblitas , Flávio Bueno de Camargo Junior , Wagner Vidal Magalhães , Fernanda de Sá Teixeira , Maria Cecília Salvadori
{"title":"Characterization of the mechanical properties of the cortex region of human hair fibers by multiparametric atomic force microscopy mapping","authors":"Raissa Lima de Oblitas , Flávio Bueno de Camargo Junior , Wagner Vidal Magalhães , Fernanda de Sá Teixeira , Maria Cecília Salvadori","doi":"10.1016/j.ultramic.2024.113925","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ultramic.2024.113925","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p><span><span>We show the benefit of the use of atomic force microscopy (AFM) in spectroscopy force mode (FV: force volume) for evaluation of the cosmetic active effectiveness in improving the </span>mechanical properties<span><span> of human hair fibers cortex region. For this, we characterized human hair fibers without and with chemical damage caused by bleaching process. Fiber and resin (embedding material) data were obtained simultaneously in the mapping in order to have the resin data as a reference to ensure a coherent comparison between data from the different fiber groups. Our AFM results, which were evaluated using statistical tests, demonstrated the degradation of fibers after bleaching, corroborating the findings of transmission electron microscopy analysis and the effectiveness of a cosmetic active ingredient in improving the </span>Young's modulus (elastic modulus) (</span></span><span><math><mi>E</mi></math></span>) of the damaged fibers. We also found a radial decrease in the natural logarithm of Young's modulus ln(<span><math><mi>E</mi></math></span><span>) along the cross-section of the active group fiber, which is compatible with confocal Raman spectroscopy analysis by other authors, demonstrating variation of the active permeation with depth. We note that Young's modulus was also determined by a tensile tester (macro-scale technique), in which it was not possible to obtain statistically significant differences between the groups, evidencing the advantage of the FV-AFM analysis. We also found an increase in ln(</span><span><math><mi>E</mi></math></span>) accompanied by a decrease in maximum adhesion force between tip and sample (negative Pearson correlation coefficient). This result can be explained by the fact that structures composed of hydrophobic components have a higher Young's modulus than structures composed of hydrophilic components.</p><ul><li><span>•</span><span><p>Bleaching damage and cosmetic hair treatment assessed by AFM, TEM, and tensile tester.</p></span></li><li><span>•</span><span><p>Young's modulus by AFM nanoindentation of hair fibers monitored by sample standard.</p></span></li><li><span>•</span><span><p>Young's modulus changes radially along the cross-section due to the cosmetic active.</p></span></li><li><span>•</span><span><p>AFM data show statistically significant differences among sample groups.</p></span></li><li><span>•</span><span><p>Tensile tester was not able to show statistically significant differences.</p></span></li></ul></div>","PeriodicalId":23439,"journal":{"name":"Ultramicroscopy","volume":"259 ","pages":"Article 113925"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2024-01-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139508276","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}