Chapter 3
Principle and Practice
of Three-Dimensional Transmission
Electron Microscopy (3D-TEM)
Abstract TEM observation principle is outlined at first. In TEM, electron is irradiated onto the sample, followed by an image formation using the transmitted electron
by the bright-field method. A certain amount of defocusing of the objective lens
can give a beneficial phase difference between the scattered and un-scattered electron waves to produce a necessary contrast on the screen, which is the phase contrast. Secondly, the observation principle of 3D-TEM and TEM-tomography were
explained. In order to construct the 3D images, we have to make use of computerized
tomography. Moreover, the new developments of 3D-TEM were touched on.
Keywords Transmission electron microscope (TEM) · Bright-field observation ·
Three-dimensional transmission electron microscope (3D-TEM) ·
TEM-tomography
3.1 Image Formation by Transmission Electron
Microscopy (TEM)
We might have had an opportunity to look at a hair on an optical microscope at a science laboratory in the middle school. However, we were not able to see a microscopic
body like an atom or a molecule, since the resolution of the optical microscopy is
limited to the order of half the wave length of the employed light [1, 2]. By using electron beam, it has become possible to visualize a microscopic object that is not seen
by the optical microscopy. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) has enabled
us to make it by irradiating electron to the sample, followed by an image formation
using the transmitted electron.
The first TEM was constructed by E. Ruska (1906–1988) and M. Knoll in 1931.
Ruska had continued improving the prototype TEM instrument to the commercialization and in his closing years was awarded the Nobel Prize in physics in 1986 with
G. Binning and H. Rohrer. The latter two winners are the inventers of scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). In passing, the majority of TEM users had talked much
about the possibility of Ruska’s Nobel Prize for years. STM is surely a microscope,
but in principle, it was different from TEM. Still the Nobel Committee took the
plunge to select the three. The appearance of STM seemed to have enabled Ruska’s
© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020
S. Kohjiya et al., Reinforcement of Rubber, Springer Series on Polymer
and Composite Materials, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-3789-9_3
49
Principle and Practice
of Three-Dimensional Transmission
Electron Microscopy (3D-TEM)
Abstract TEM observation principle is outlined at first. In TEM, electron is irradiated onto the sample, followed by an image formation using the transmitted electron
by the bright-field method. A certain amount of defocusing of the objective lens
can give a beneficial phase difference between the scattered and un-scattered electron waves to produce a necessary contrast on the screen, which is the phase contrast. Secondly, the observation principle of 3D-TEM and TEM-tomography were
explained. In order to construct the 3D images, we have to make use of computerized
tomography. Moreover, the new developments of 3D-TEM were touched on.
Keywords Transmission electron microscope (TEM) · Bright-field observation ·
Three-dimensional transmission electron microscope (3D-TEM) ·
TEM-tomography
3.1 Image Formation by Transmission Electron
Microscopy (TEM)
We might have had an opportunity to look at a hair on an optical microscope at a science laboratory in the middle school. However, we were not able to see a microscopic
body like an atom or a molecule, since the resolution of the optical microscopy is
limited to the order of half the wave length of the employed light [1, 2]. By using electron beam, it has become possible to visualize a microscopic object that is not seen
by the optical microscopy. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) has enabled
us to make it by irradiating electron to the sample, followed by an image formation
using the transmitted electron.
The first TEM was constructed by E. Ruska (1906–1988) and M. Knoll in 1931.
Ruska had continued improving the prototype TEM instrument to the commercialization and in his closing years was awarded the Nobel Prize in physics in 1986 with
G. Binning and H. Rohrer. The latter two winners are the inventers of scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). In passing, the majority of TEM users had talked much
about the possibility of Ruska’s Nobel Prize for years. STM is surely a microscope,
but in principle, it was different from TEM. Still the Nobel Committee took the
plunge to select the three. The appearance of STM seemed to have enabled Ruska’s
© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020
S. Kohjiya et al., Reinforcement of Rubber, Springer Series on Polymer
and Composite Materials, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-3789-9_3
49