![]() ![]() Though helpful, these approaches pose a performance trade-off: to reduce charging effects and sample deformation from heat one must alter the sample from its native state and/or incur increased noise in the acquired image 11.Īlthough computational approaches for super resolution in electron microscopy have been previously demonstrated 12, 13, they require that a portion of the image be taken in high resolution or that the images have similar characteristics and contain sparse unique structures outside of a periodic topology. Additionally, shorter dwell times can be used during the electron beam scan to reduce the exposure to the sample. For example, it is common practice to coat the samples in e.g., gold, palladium, or iridium prior to imaging 10. ![]() There are, however, several approaches to mitigate the destructive effects of the electron beam. Consequently, these practical barriers prohibit many important samples such as biological specimens, polymers, and hydrogel-structures from being reliably characterized by SEM. However, when compared to light microscopy, the focused electron beam utilized by SEM is inherently more destructive to samples, especially soft and/or dielectric materials, resulting in electron charge build-up as well as deformation from absorption-based heating 9. Applications such as these require SEM characterization and therefore, as new tools to process or investigate the properties of silicon and other materials are developed, there will be an expanding need for improved electron microscopy tools. For example, new applications such as nanocutting, where a silicon wafer can be cut at m/s speeds using a diamond blade have been demonstrated 5, 6, 7, 8. Therefore, SEM is frequently employed in a wide range of fields such as material science, biomedicine, chemistry, physics, nanofabrication, and forensics, among others 2, 3, 4. ![]() By using electrons instead of photons for imaging samples, SEM can achieve sub-nanometer spatial resolution 1, revealing topological and compositional features invisible to traditional light microscopy. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) is an important tool for characterization of materials at the nanoscale. ![]()
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