Transmission electron microscopy (TEM)

(Transmission electron microscopy) This oldest method of electron microscopy is used to provide an image of the structure in thin-layer system. In contract to the scanning electron microscope, the sample is radiographed with high-energy electrons. durchstrahlt. To this end, the sample thickness must be reduced. As the electron beam passes through the thinnest layer, it suffers intensity losses due to scattering of the electrons at the nuclei of the sample atoms. This deflects them by small angles from the straight beam path. Only electrons that penetrate the sample without scattering are used for image formation. The image contrast results from the intensity of the scattering losses of the passing electron beam. These scattering losses depend, among other things, on the thickness, density and crystalline defects of the sample.