Volume 25 Issue 7 November 2011

Hiromi Inada,¹ Mitsuru Konno,¹ Keiji Tamura,¹ Yuya Suzuki,¹ Kuniyasu Nakamura¹ and Yimei Zhu²
1. Hitachi High-Technologies Corporation, Science and Medical Systems Business Group, Ibaraki, Japan 2. Department of Condensed Matter Physics and Materials Science, Brookhaven National Laboratory, NY, USA
Aberration-corrected electron microscopy has enabled sub-nanometre atomic scale characterisation to be applied to a wide range of materials although to date only transmitted electron signals have generally been studied. The very latest studies into atomic resolution secondary electron (SE) imaging using an aberration-corrected STEM are described. Following a series of experiments, we have succeeded in observing isolated single atoms using secondary electron signals. In addition, we have clearly observed atomic resolution not only for heavy elements like uranium but also lighter elements such as silicon and carbon. We believe this new technique can provide significantly greater insights into many materials through the correlation of topographic and surface structures with conventional transmitted-electron imaging techniques, whilst also enabling atomic resolution even on bulk specimens.

Mitsuhide Matsushita,¹ Shuji Kawai,¹ Takeshi Iwama,¹ Katsuhiro Tanaka,¹ Toshiko Kuba,² Noriaki Endo,¹ and Thomas C. Isabell ³.
1. EM Business Unit, JEOL Ltd., Tokyo, Japan. 2. Electron Optics Sales Division, JEOL Ltd., Tokyo, Japan.  3. JEOL USA, Peabody, MA, USA
Transmission electron microscopes (TEMs) or scanning transmission electron microscopes (STEMs) are required for physical analysis in nanotechnology industries. Conventional TEM and STEM equipment are typically operated by specialists, however such personnel may not be hired because of the overall cost of manufacturing products. Therefore, there is an obvious demand for TEMs or STEMs which can be operated without the assistance of well-trained operators. To satisfy this demand, a new automated performance electron microscope has been developed.

Wei Sha,¹ H. H. Haji Talib,¹ Eric A. Wilson,² Raj Rajendran,³ Savko Malinov,⁴ Harvey R. Charlesworth,⁵ Lee Ibbitson⁶
1. School of Planning, Architecture and Civil Engineering, Queen’s University Belfast, UK. 2. Faculty of Arts, Computing, Engineering and Sciences, Sheffield Hallam University, UK. 3. School of Mechanical and Building Sciences, B. S. Abdur Rahman University, India. 4. School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Queen’s University Belfast, UK. 5. London & Scandinavian Metallurgical Co. Ltd., UK. 6. Tata Steel Speciality, UK
Two manganese steels were investigated: Fe-19.7%Mn (VM339A) and Fe-19.7%Mn stabilized with 0.056%C, 0.19%Ti and 0.083%Al (VM339B). The toughness of VM339A was higher than VM339B, but VM339B had higher hardness. Tempering does not affect the toughness of the alloys. SEM images of the fracture surface for both the alloys revealed ductile fractures. A further alloy with a lower manganese content, Fe-8.46%Mn-0.24%Nb-0.038%C, and thus even lower cost than the conventional 3.5Ni cryogenic steel, was tested for its impact toughness after heat treatment at 600°C, giving promising results.

Wen Chen, Fred Stoddard and Timothy C. Baldwin
School of Applied Sciences, University of Wolverhampton, UK
The cell walls of the stigma and style are important zones for cell-cell recognition, nutrition, guidance and protection of the pollen tube along the transmitting tract. The SEM data presented here was a component of a larger study the main objective of which was to investigate pistil development and pollination in the crop species Vicia faba L. (the faba bean). The data demonstrate that there is a developmentally regulated difference in the structural integrity of the stigmatic surface in autofertile (K25) and autosterile (D07) lines of the faba bean. In the autofertile lines the stigmatic surface ruptures two days prior to flower opening (anthesis), whereas in the autosterile plants the stigma remains intact, until anthesis. The VPSEM technique used in the current study shows this difference to great effect and as such is an invaluable tool for use in plant cell biology.

Patrick Camus
Thermo Fisher Scientific, Madison, WI, USA
Tremendous effort is being put forth in creating and evaluating new and novel structures and materials at the sub-micron, approaching nanometer, scale. Enhancing the properties of these materials for future nanotechnology applications requires a full structural characterization. At a minimum, the size, distribution, and chemical composition of all features within the sample need to be well characterized. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) are techniques well suited to this characterization task. However, the traditional SEM and EDS acquisition and analysis procedures do not always provide the best results for interpretation. This paper describes the selection of optimized operating and interpretive routines for SEM/EDS to better characterize modern nanotechnology structures.