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A (S)TEM Gas Cell Holder with Localized Laser Heating for In Situ Experiments

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 March 2013

Shareghe Mehraeen*
Affiliation:
Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, USA
Joseph T. McKeown*
Affiliation:
Condensed Matter and Materials Division, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, CA 94550, USA
Pushkarraj V. Deshmukh
Affiliation:
E.A. Fischione Instruments, Inc., Export, PA 15632, USA
James E. Evans
Affiliation:
Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, USA Chemical and Materials Science Division, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA 99352, USA
Patricia Abellan
Affiliation:
Chemical and Materials Science Division, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA 99352, USA
Pinghong Xu
Affiliation:
Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, USA
Bryan W. Reed
Affiliation:
Condensed Matter and Materials Division, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, CA 94550, USA
Mitra L. Taheri
Affiliation:
Department of Materials Science & Engineering, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
Paul E. Fischione
Affiliation:
E.A. Fischione Instruments, Inc., Export, PA 15632, USA
Nigel D. Browning
Affiliation:
Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, USA Chemical and Materials Science Division, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA 99352, USA Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, USA
*
*Corresponding author. E-mail: smehraeen@gmail.com
**Corresponding author. E-mail: mckeown3@llnl.gov
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Abstract

The advent of aberration correction for transmission electron microscopy has transformed atomic resolution imaging into a nearly routine technique for structural analysis. Now an emerging frontier in electron microscopy is the development of in situ capabilities to observe reactions at atomic resolution in real time and within realistic environments. Here we present a new in situ gas cell holder that is designed for compatibility with a wide variety of sample type (i.e., dimpled 3-mm discs, standard mesh grids, various types of focused ion beam lamellae attached to half grids). Its capabilities include localized heating and precise control of the gas pressure and composition while simultaneously allowing atomic resolution imaging at ambient pressure. The results show that 0.25-nm lattice fringes are directly visible for nanoparticles imaged at ambient pressure with gas path lengths up to 20 μm. Additionally, we quantitatively demonstrate that while the attainable contrast and resolution decrease with increasing pressure and gas path length, resolutions better than 0.2 nm should be accessible at ambient pressure with gas path lengths less than the 15 μm utilized for these experiments.

Type
Software, Techniques, and Equipment Development
Copyright
Copyright © Microscopy Society of America 2013

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