Applied Microscopy最新文献

The development of the femtosecond laser (fs laser) with its ability to provide extremely rapid athermal ablation of materials has initiated a renaissance in materials science. Sample milling rates for the fs laser are orders of magnitude greater than that of traditional focused ion beam (FIB) sources currently used. In combination with minimal surface post-processing requirements, this technology is proving to be a game changer for materials research. The development of a femtosecond laser attached to a focused ion beam scanning electron microscope (LaserFIB) enables numerous new capabilities, including access to deeply buried structures as well as the production of extremely large trenches, cross sections, pillars and TEM H-bars, all while preserving microstructure and avoiding or reducing FIB polishing. Several high impact applications are now possible due to this technology in the fields of crystallography, electronics, mechanical engineering, battery research and materials sample preparation. This review article summarizes the current opportunities for this new technology focusing on the materials science megatrends of engineering materials, energy materials and electronics.

We propose an effective deep learning model to denoise scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) image series, named Noise2Atom, to map images from a source domain (mathcal {S}) to a target domain (mathcal {C}), where (mathcal {S}) is for our noisy experimental dataset, and (mathcal {C}) is for the desired clear atomic images. Noise2Atom uses two external networks to apply additional constraints from the domain knowledge. This model requires no signal prior, no noise model estimation, and no paired training images. The only assumption is that the inputs are acquired with identical experimental configurations. To evaluate the restoration performance of our model, as it is impossible to obtain ground truth for our experimental dataset, we propose consecutive structural similarity (CSS) for image quality assessment, based on the fact that the structures remain much the same as the previous frame(s) within small scan intervals. We demonstrate the superiority of our model by providing evaluation in terms of CSS and visual quality on different experimental datasets.

In-situ transmission electron microscopy (TEM) holders that employ a chip-type specimen stage have been widely utilized in recent years. The specimen on the microelectromechanical system (MEMS)-based chip is commonly prepared by focused ion beam (FIB) milling and ex-situ lift-out (EXLO). However, the FIB-milled thin-foil specimens are inevitably contaminated with Ga⁺ ions. When these specimens are heated for real time observation, the Ga⁺ ions influence the reaction or aggregate in the protection layer. An effective method of removing the Ga residue by Ar⁺ ion milling within FIB system was explored in this study. However, the Ga residue remained in the thin-foil specimen that was extracted by EXLO from the trench after the conduct of Ar⁺ ion milling. To address this drawback, the thin-foil specimen was attached to an FIB lift-out grid, subjected to Ar⁺ ion milling, and subsequently transferred to an MEMS-based chip by EXLO. The removal of the Ga residue was confirmed by energy dispersive spectroscopy.

Sample preparation is significantly important to the high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) characterization of nanomaterials. However, many general organic solvents can dissolve the necessary organic polymer support layer in TEM grid, which causes it difficult to obtain high-quality samples of oil-soluble nanomaterials. In this study, a new sample preparation method for oil-soluble nanomaterials has been developed by using the sublimable material as a transition layer. Experiments also show that there is no damage to TEM grids and high-quality HRTEM images can be obtained via this method. This approach paves the way to applicable HRTEM sample preparation of oil-soluble nanomaterials.

Arthropods have an open circulatory system with a simple tubular heart, so it has been estimated that the contractile pumping structure of the cardiac muscle will be less efficient than that of vertebrates. Nevertheless, certain arthropods are known to have far superior properties and characteristics than vertebrates, so we investigated the fine structural features of intercalated discs and cardiac junctions of cardiac muscle cells in the black widow spider Latrodectus mactans. Characteristically, the spider cardiac muscle has typical striated features and represents a functional syncytium that supports multiple connections to adjacent cells by intercalated discs. Histologically, the boundary lamina of each sarcolemma connects to the basement membrane to form an elastic sheath, and the extracellular matrix allows the cells to be anchored to other tissues. Since the intercalated disc is also part of sarcolemma, it contains gap junctions for depolarization and desmosomes that keep the fibers together during cardiac muscle contraction. Furthermore, fascia adherens and macula adherens (desmosomes) were also identified as cell junctions in both sarcolemma and intercalated discs. To enable the coordinated heartbeat of the cardiac muscle, the muscle fibers have neuronal innervations by multiple axons from the motor ganglion.

Deformation twinning, one of the major deformation modes in a crystalline material, has typically been analyzed using generalized planar fault energy (GPFE) curves. Despite the significance of these curves in understanding the twin nucleation and its effect on the mechanical properties of crystals, their experimental validity is lacking. In this comparative study based on the first-principles calculation, molecular dynamics simulation, and quantitative in-situ tensile testing of Al nanowires inside a transmission electron microscopy system, we present both a theoretical and an experimental approach that enable the measurement of a part of the twin formation energy of the perfect Al crystal. The proposed experimental method is also regarded as an indirect but quantitative means for validating the GPFE theory.

The olfactory anatomy and histology of Lethenteron reissneri were researched using a stereo microscope, a light microscope, and a scanning electron microscope. As in other lampreys, it shows same characters as follows: i) a single olfactory organ, ii) a single tubular nostril, iii) a single olfactory chamber with gourd-like form, iv) a nasal valve, v) a nasopharyngeal pouch, vi) a sensory epithelium (SE) of continuous distribution, vii) a supporting cells with numerous long cilia, viii) an accessory olfactory organ. However, the description of a pseudostratified columnar layer in the SE and Non SE is a first record, not reported in sea lamprey Petromyzon marinus. In particular, both 19 to 20 lamellae in number and olfactory receptor neuron’s quarter ciliary length of the knob diameter differ from those of P. marinus. From these results, it might be considered that the olfactory organ of L. reissneri shows well adaptive structure of a primitive fish to slow flowing water with gravel, pebbles, and sand and a hiding habit into sand bottom at daytime. The lamellar number and neuron’s ciliary length may be a meaningful taxonomic character for the class Petromyzonida.

Recent advances in fabrication have enabled radial-junction architectures for cost-effective and high-performance optoelectronic devices. Unlike a planar PN junction, a radial-junction geometry maximizes the optical interaction in the three-dimensional (3D) structures, while effectively extracting the generated carriers via the conformal PN junction. In this paper, we report characterizations of radial PN junctions that consist of p-type Si micropillars created by deep reactive-ion etching (DRIE) and an n-type layer formed by phosphorus gas diffusion. We use electron-beam induced current (EBIC) microscopy to access the 3D junction profile from the sidewall of the pillars. Our EBIC images reveal uniform PN junctions conformally constructed on the 3D pillar array. Based on Monte-Carlo simulations and EBIC modeling, we estimate local carrier separation/collection efficiency that reflects the quality of the PN junction. We find the EBIC efficiency of the pillar array increases with the incident electron beam energy, consistent with the EBIC behaviors observed in a high-quality planar PN junction. The magnitude of the EBIC efficiency of our pillar array is about 70% at 10?kV, slightly lower than that of the planar device (≈ 81%). We suggest that this reduction could be attributed to the unpassivated pillar surface and the unintended recombination centers in the pillar cores introduced during the DRIE processes. Our results support that the depth-dependent EBIC approach is ideally suitable for evaluating PN junctions formed on micro/nanostructured semiconductors with various geometry.

Silk is produced by a variety of insects, but only silk made by terrestrial arthropods has been examined in detail. To fill the gap, this study was designed to understand the silk spinning system of aquatic insect. The larvae of caddis flies, Hydatophylax nigrovittatus produce silk through a pair of labial silk glands and use raw silk to protect themselves in the aquatic environment. The result of this study clearly shows that although silk fibers are made under aquatic conditions, the cellular silk production system is quite similar to that of terrestrial arthropods. Typically, silk production in caddisworm has been achieved by two independent processes in the silk glands. This includes the synthesis of silk fibroin in the posterior region, the production of adhesive glycoproteins in the anterior region, which are ultimately accumulated into functional silk dope and converted to a silk ribbon coated with gluey substances. At the cellular level, each substance of fibroin and glycoprotein is specifically synthesized at different locations, and then transported from the rough ER to the Golgi apparatus as transport vesicles, respectively. Thereafter, the secretory vesicles gradually increase in size by vesicular fusion, forming larger secretory granules containing specific proteins. It was found that these granules eventually migrate to the apical membrane and are exocytosed into the lumen by a mechanism of merocrine secretion.

Sample preparation including dehydration and drying of samples is the most intricate part of scanning electron microscopy. Most current sample preparation protocols use critical-point drying with liquid carbon dioxide. Very few studies have reported samples that were dried using chemical reagents. In this study, we used hexamethyldisilazane, a chemical drying reagent, to prepare plant samples. As glandular trichomes are among the most fragile and sensitive surface structures found on plants, we used Millingtonia hortensis leaf samples as our study materials because they contain abundant glandular trichomes. The results obtained using this new method are identical to those produced via critical-point drying.