TRANSMISSION ELECTRON MICROSCOPY (TEM)

Ramon Youhanna

Course Coordinator: Peter Majewski

What is TEM?
Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) utilizes energetic electrons to provide morphologic, compositional and crystallographic information on samples.

Function of TEM
TEMs are capable of imaging at a significantly higher resolution than microscopes at a maximum potential magnification of 1 nanometre; It enables the user to examine fine detail, as small as an atom, which is tens of thousands times smaller than the smallest resolvable object under a light microscope.

Work Principle of TEM

TEM is a microscopy technique in which a beam of electrons is transmitted through an ultra thin specimen, interacting with the specimen as it passes through. An image is then formed, magnified and focused onto an imaging device, such as a fluorescent screen. It is used to characterize the microstructure of materials with very high spatial resolution and is a commonly used technique for metallurgical analysis.

Cross-Section of TEM microscope

Transmission Electron Microscope

Consists of three essential systems: (1) An electron gun: Which produces the electron beam, and the condenser system, which focuses the beam onto the object, (2) Image-producing system: Which focus the electrons passing through the specimen to form a real, highly magnified image, and (3) Image-recording system: Which converts the electron image into some form perceptible to the human eye (Computerized images stored as TIFF or JPEG file.)

TEM Images
Morphology of the starting zirconia powders as observed by transmission electron microscopy

Superparamagnetic iron oxide (SPIO) image observed by transmission electron microscopy

Examples of TEM
TEMs can be used in semiconductor analysis and production, and the manufacturing of computer and silicon chips.

Types of TEM
STEM: Scanning Transmission Electron Microscopy scans with an extremely narrow beam that is transmitted through the sample.
An organic thin film mapping Pathways of Electrical Charge

CTEM: Cryo Transmission Electron Microscopy used for imaging liquid crystal suspensions, protein molecules, hydrogels, viruses, nanoparticles etc.
Influenza Virus

TEM versus Scanning TEM

TEM
TEM uses a wide beam of electrons passing through a thin sliced specimen to form an image.
produces dark spots of stained areas all at one time.

STEM
STEM uses a focused beam of electrons scanning through a thin sliced specimen to form an image.
produces images as one spot at a time.

List of Manufacturers
1. Siemens (introduced first TEM microscope) 2. Carl Zeiss (Libra 120 Plus Transmission Electron Microscopes) 3. Hitachi (HD-2300A Scanning Transmission Electron Microscope) 4. CSIRO (FEI Tecnai 12 Transmission Electron Microscope) 5. Jeol (JEOL 2010F Scanning Transmission Electron Microscope) 6. Philips

Limitations of TEM
1. Images are black and white 2. Generally requires more time and experience for sample preparation 3. Potential artefacts from sample preparation 4. Need to use dead and xed samples 5. Sensitive to vibration and electromagnetic fields 6. Requires constant upkeep including maintaining

voltage, currents to the electromagnetic coils and cooling water.

Application of TEM
Areas of Interest applying TEM: 1) Life Sciences, e.g. visualizing tiny nerves demages 2) Biological & Medical, e.g. Viral detection or visualizing in cells 3) Nanotechnology, e.g. production of micro-chips 4) Material research & forensic analysis 5) Gemology, e.g. to analyze structure and texture of gems. 6) Industry and metallurgy, e.g. to identify flaws, fractures and damages to micro-sized objects 7) Education, e.g. for research & observe nano-sized objects

References
http://www.microscopemaster.com/transmission-

electron-microscope.html http://www.personal.usyd.edu.au/~cox/pdfs/butterfly.pdf http://www.uiowa.edu/~cmrf/methodology/tem/tem_pg2 .html http://www.sci.sdsu.edu/emfacility/555class/class1.html http://www.biolcell.org/boc/100/0491/1000491.pdf http://tpm.amc.anl.gov/Lectures/Zaluzec-1Instrumentation.ppt.pdf