Introduction

At this stage SEM can be thought of as providing images of external morphology, rather similar
in appearance to those formed by the eye, while a TEM probes the internal structure of solids and
gives us access to microstructural or ultrastructural detail not familiar to the human eye.

Methods of image formation

There are three basic ways in which an image can be formed. The simplest of all is projection
type, where the smaller object will be placed behind a light source to give a shadow of itself. The
second one uses lens system, called optical image. both of the methods are formed in parallel,
that’s all parts of the image are formed simultaneously. However, the third type of image scans
each point of the picture serially and called scanning image.

TRANSMISSION ELECTRON MICROSCOPE

1. Transmission Electron Microscopy Fundamentals

a. Overview
Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) is analysis of the interactions between high
energy electrons, usually between 60-300 keV, and a thin sample. During the interaction
the electrons removes the tightly bound, inner-shell electrons from the attractive field of
the nucleus by transferring some of its energy to individual atoms in the specimen This
interaction may generate a number of different signals, depicted in Figure , which can be
used for composing images, diffraction patterns and spectroscopic analyses. Consequently,
TEM techniques can provide information on the sample’s microstructure, chemical
composition and electronic properties. (Kovács, A. and Luysberg, M.,) (Williams, D.B et, al.)
Louis de Broglie (1925) first theorized that the electron had wave-like characteristics, with
a wavelength substantially less than visible light. Then in 1927 two research groups,
Davisson and Germer and Thomson and Reid, independently carried out their classic
electron-diffraction experiments, which demonstrated the wave nature of electrons. It
didn’t take long for the idea of an electron microscope to be proposed, and the term was
first used in the paper of Knoll and Ruska (1932). (Williams, D.B et, al.)
Figure 1.1 most common signals generated due to interaction between the thin specimens
with high energy electrons.

It is capable of displaying magnified images of a thin specimen, typically with a

magnification in the range 103 to 106 . In addition, the instrument can be used to produce
electron-diffraction patterns, useful for analyzing the properties of a crystalline specimen.
This overall flexibility is achieved with an electron-optical system containing an electron
gun (which produces the beam of electrons) and several magnetic lenses,
stacked vertically to form a lens column. It is convenient to divide the
instrument into three sections, which we first define and then study in some
detail separately.
The illumination system comprises the electron gun, together with two or
more condenser lenses that focus the electrons onto the specimen. Its design
and operation determine the diameter of the electron beam (often called the
“illumination”) at the specimen and the intensity level in the final TEM
image.
The specimen stage allows specimens to either be held stationary or else
intentionally moved, and also inserted or withdrawn from the TEM. The
mechanical stability of the specimen stage is an important factor that
determines the spatial resolution of the TEM image.
The imaging system contains at least three lenses that together produce a
magnified image (or a diffraction pattern) of the specimen on a fluorescent
screen, on photographic film, or on the monitor screen of an electronic
camera system. How this imaging system is operated determines the
magnification of the TEM image, while the design of the imaging lenses
largely determines the spatial resolution that can be obtained from the
microscope

INSTRUMENTATION
2.7 We Construct an Electron Microscope

After understanding the function of electron gun and electron lenses we are able to
construct an electron microscope by use of our knowledge and some additions in
a gedanken experiment. The light optical microscope serves as an example but we
rotate it in a way that the condenser will be the lens on the top (Fig. 2.14).
Of course, the lamp is substituted by an electron gun and the lenses are electric
coils with pole pieces creating rotational-symmetric magnetic fields. Furthermore,
the condenser and the projective are systems consisting of more than one lens. They
will be described hereafter. Additionally, a special specimen stage is necessary to
 hold the sample with sufficient stability and to move it with high precision.
As humans do not have a sense organ for electrons we need special sensors to
observe the image in the final image plane. Finally, we need a vacuum system to be
able to work with free electrons within the microscopic column.

Figure comparison between optical light microscope(right) and TEM (left)

Illumination system

The illumination system includes an electron gun and a condenser system, i.e. “All
things that are in the ray path before the specimen”. The purpose of the illumination system
is to set the electron current density on the sample to provide different illumination
conditions and, consequently, to set the image brightness. The distance
between condenser and specimen is some centimeters and is rather large for electron-
optical conditions. To image the cross over created by the electron gun onto
the specimen a weak lens with a long focal length would be needed The
most common and easy to understand condenser system is the two-lens condenser
(Fig. 3.3)
 Figure 3.3. Schematic
diagram of high-resolution
transmission microscope.

(1) Electron gun: In its simplest form this consists of a heated tungsten filament and
electrostatic lens which provide a well-defined beam of electrons apparently coming
from a source (the crossover) 50-100 (mm across. Accelerating voltages are typically
variable by 20 kV steps in the range 40-125 kV, sometimes extending downwards to
20 or even 10 kV and upwards to 200, 300 or even 400 kV. The total current emitted
by the electron gun may be up to 100 ^iA but only a fraction of this reaches the final
image, the remainder being absorbed by diaphragms within the column.
When a microscope is required to operate at the higher end of the magnification
range a brighter electron gun will be desirable. Lanthanum hexaboride gives a ten
times improvement with little additional complication; the ultimate, the field emission
gun, offers three orders of magnitude increase in brightness but demands the
same degree of improvement in operating vacuum
(2) Condenser lens: This provides a means of varying the strength of illumination in
the specimen plane to suit the type of specimen and the magnification of the final
image. If the same final image brightness is required over a range of enlargements
between X500 and X 250 000 then the intensity of illumination at the specimen must
be varied by a factor of 5002 or 2.5 X105. The maximum intensity occurs when the
electron source or crossover is focused in the specimen plane.
The specimen stage

Sample holder: The TEM grids are placed into the microscope using the sample holder.
Advanced experiments, such as in situ heating, cooling, and mechanical testing, can be
performed during the TEM characterization with the aid of adequate sample holders and
external control hardware.

Objective lens: Although the objective lens delivers a magnification of only ~20-50
times, it is the most important lens in the TEM. A high performance is demanded due to
the fact that its optical aberration functions determine the resolution of the microscope. It
forms the images and diffraction patterns that are magnified by the projector.