Why advanced TEM is set to supercharge materials research

Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) is a powerful imaging technique that allows us to capture images of materials even down to the atomic scale. The approach uses electromagnets, formed from coils of copper wire, to control and focus the electron beam and to magnify the created signal and generate images. These microscopes have existed for almost 100 years but have evolved rapidly in the last decade. A key reason for recent progress is the increasingly cost-effective access to advanced computation, allowing precise control over the currents passing through the many hundreds of different power supplies and therefore the microscopes’ ability to generate atomic resolution images. The capability to image at the atomic scale has helped to revolutionise our understanding of materials and allowed us to use this knowledge to develop materials with improved performance.

What is needed now?

Despite the power of the TEM technique, many of the most challenging problems in materials involve complex heterogeneous systems where the approach provides an incomplete picture. As a high spatial resolution, nanoscale technique, TEM can struggle to analyse technologically relevant volumes of sample. This can raise questions about sample representativeness and drives electron microscopists to analyse model systems, which can be made with greater homogeneity. However, it often leaves a gap between the material analysis and real-world industrial applications.