Imaging of radiation-sensitive samples in transmission electron microscopes equipped with Zernike phase plates

We have optimized a bright-field transmission electron microscope for imaging of high-resolution radiation-sensitive materials by calculating the imaging dose n0 needed to obtain a signal–to-noise ratio (SNR)=5. Installing a Zernike phase plate (ZP) decreases the dose needed to detect single atoms by as much as a factor of two at 300 kV. For imaging larger objects, such as Gaussian objects with full-width at half-maximum larger than 0.15 nm, ZP appears more efficient in reducing the imaging dose than correcting for spherical aberration. The imaging dose n0 does not decrease with extending of chromatic resolution limit by reducing chromatic aberration, using high accelerating potential (U0=300 kV), because the image contrast increases slower than the reciprocal of detection radius. However, reducing chromatic aberration would allow accelerating potential to be reduced leading to imaging doses below 10 e−/Å2 for a single iodine atom when a CS-corrector and a ZP are used together. Our simulations indicate that, in addition to microscope hardware, optimization is heavily dependent on the nature of the specimen under investigation.