Energy-filtering transmission electron microscopy on the nanometer length scale

Energy-filtering transmission electron microscopy (EFTEM), developed about ten years ago, is now a routine analysis tool in the characterization of materials. Based on the physical principles of electron energy-loss spectrometry (EELS), but with the addition of in-column or post-column energy-filters, it forms images of microstructures using a narrow energy band of inelastically scattered electrons. Post-column energy-filters, developed commercially by Gatan (Gatan Imaging Filter, GIF) in the early 1990s, could be attached to nearly any TEM. Almost at the same time, the introduction of the EM-912 microscope with an integrated Ω-filter by Zeiss, made it possible to use in-column filters as well. These two developments made EFTEM possible on an almost routine basis. The operation of these filters is rather straightforward and it is now possible to acquire element specific images within a few minutes. However, the optimal setup for data acquisition, the judicious choice of experimental parameters to solve specific materials science problems and the interpretation of the results can be rather difficult. For best results, a fundamental knowledge of the underlying physics of EELS and a systematic development of the technical details is necessary. In this work, we discuss the current status of EFTEM in terms of spatial resolution and illustrate it with a few technologically relevant applications at the nanometer length scale.