Two aberration-corrected electron microscopes in the UK are now sharp enough to pick out individual atoms and even single columns of atoms inside solid materials. Conventional electron microscopes blur fine details because of lens aberrations—the same kind of distortion that glasses correct in human vision. The SuperSTEM facility has built two instruments that eliminate these aberrations, allowing scientists to see exactly where specific atoms sit inside semiconductors, catalysts, pollutant particles, and magnetic nanoparticles. The team now needs to develop smarter ways to collect data, simulate what atomic-scale defects should look like, and build a new type of x-ray detector that can analyse materials at the atomic scale using either x-rays or energy-loss spectroscopy. If successful, the work will let researchers pinpoint individual dopant atoms in tiny semiconductor devices that rely on just a few atoms to function. It will also reveal which atoms control the performance of catalysts, the strength of structural materials, and the behaviour of magnetic nanoparticles. The project will train the next generation of UK scientists in these world-leading analytical techniques. This is fundamental science: it does not promise an immediate product, but past advances in atomic-scale imaging have underpinned breakthroughs in electronics, catalysis, and medicine.
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Electron microscopes allow scientists to see and analyse solid materials on the atomic scale. Conventional electron microscopes suffer from aberrations which limit their ability to resolve fine detail. These aberrations can now be corrected, just as defects in human vision can be corrected by glasses. The SuperSTEM project has involved the development and testing of two special aberration-corrected microscopes, the second of which is being installed at the end of 2005. These microscopes enable scientists to determine the nature and position of specific atoms and small groups of atoms in materials such as semiconductor devices, catalysts and environmental particulates. This proposal is to enable the two SuperSTEM microscopes to produce experimental results for applications a range of fields of scientific and technological importance and to give UK researchers and students world-leading expertise in analytical techniques.Among the things we propose to do are:* Develop smart ways of collecting information, so that we can look at a single column of atoms for a very long time, even if it is moving slightly.* Develop new ways of simulating what atoms and crystal defects should look like in an aberration-corrected STEM, so that we can interpret what we see by comparison with predicted images.* Seek collaborators to develop the understanding of the energy loss process as the probe becomes smaller than the atom spacing * Develop a new type of x-ray detector so that we can analyse at the atomic scale using either or both x-rays and energy loss spectrometers, whichever is most appropriate.* Determine where dopants atoms are in small semiconductor device structures which rely on only a few atoms to operate.* Analyse the atoms which are most significant to the operation or effect of catalysts, strong materials, pollutant particles, quantum dots, magnetic nanoparticles and iron in the liver.* Train the next generation of scientists who will be able to exploit this excellent technology for the benefit of mankind.
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