MSE7015 Electron Microscopy

An Exciting Journey into Materials Inner Space

Chapter 3
Alignment

Hung-Wei (Homer) Yen

homeryen@[Link]
Dept. of Materials Science & Engineering
National Taiwan University

Homer Yen | NTU Department of Materials Science & Engineering 1

Check Points
• Illumination
• Bright spot
• Parallel, centralized and symmetric beam
• Well controllable rays
• Image/Diffraction
• Image mode and diffraction mode
• Clear image
• Clear diffraction pattern

Homer Yen | NTU Department of Materials Science & Engineering 2

 Check Points
• Illumination
• Bright spot
• Parallel, centralized and symmetric beam
• Well controllable rays
• Image/Diffraction
• Image mode and diffraction mode
• Clear image
• Clear diffraction pattern

Homer Yen | NTU Department of Materials Science & Engineering 3

Homer Yen | NTU Department of Materials Science & Engineering

 Alignment
• There are three principles of TEM alignment:

1. Optimize electron beam with high brightness

2. Obtain a parallel and centralized illumination.

3. Maintain a symmetric illumination

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Gun Alignment
• Confirm that the electron beam enters the microscope (that
is, the C1 lens) parallel to the optical axis by means of the
gun tilt and that the beam goes through the center of the C1
lens by means of the gun shift.
• Gun Tilt
1. symmetrical filament image
2. highest brightness (shortest
exposure time)
• Gun Shift
1. No shifting when changing
the strength of C1 lens.
2. Tecnai F20: spot size 3 & 9
Tecnai F30: spot size 2 & 7

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 Gun Tilt: Filament Image

Not aligned Aligned Aligned

(FEG)

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Gun Shift Alignment

Homer Yen | NTU Department of Materials Science & Engineering

 C1 Lens & C1 Aperture
• C1 lens de-magnifies the
source crossover into a
smaller electron source
(~x10): Spot Size.
• C1 aperture is usually fixed
to maintain the instrument
stability.
• In TEM, increasing the # of
spot size will reduce the
crossover.
• In SEM, increasing the # of
spot size will enlarge the
crossover.

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Spot Size in SEM

• C1 lens in SEM is designed by
electrostatic lens, which has a
weaker strength in focus.
• The crossover of C1 lens exactly
locates at the entrance of Obj/C2
aperture, when Spot Size # is
7(max),
• There are Spot Size # 1, 2…and 7.
Spot size 7 gives the highest
current.
• Spot Size # ↑, strongly activated,
and then large spot size.

Homer Yen | NTU Department of Materials Science & Engineering 10

 How SEM Works

Homer Yen | NTU Department of Materials Science & Engineering

C2 Lens & C2 Aperture

• C2 creates a parallel illumination
onto the specimen in TEM, or a
convergent illumination in
SEM/STEM: Condenser.
• Question: How can we confirm
that the parallel illumination has
bee

Homer Yen | NTU Department of Materials Science & Engineering 12

 Parallel Illumination: C1 + C2

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Convergent Illumination: C1 + C2

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 • In older TEMs without a c/o lens, underfocus gives a more
parallel beam at the plane of the specimen than overfocus.
This is not the case if the objective lens is a c/o lens and
the beam is more parallel at the specimen when the c/o
lens is overfocused.

Homer Yen | NTU Department of Materials Science & Engineering 15

Condenser-Objective Lens (C3)

• Without a c/o lens, underfocus gives a more parallel beam
at the plane of the specimen than overfocus.
• The convergent effect of the c/o lens can be offset by
forming a crossover at the FFP of the objective lens.
• The parallel beam condition is met in the overfocus
condition in the c/o lens.

Homer Yen | NTU Department of Materials Science & Engineering 16

 Condenser-Objective Lens (C3)

C2

C/O or C3
strong
FFP
Mini lens
or
Upper Obj

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Condenser-Objective Lens (C3)

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 C2 Aperture
• Adjust C2 stigmator to obtain a circular beam.

• Centralized the C2 aperture to prevent from non-concentric

focus when changing C2 strength.

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C2 Aperture Alignment

Homer Yen | NTU Department of Materials Science & Engineering

 Beam Deflector Coils
• Beam deflector
• Beam tilt: alignment/dark field
• Beam shift: alignment/position
beam
• Alignment: Pivot Point
• No tilting in diff mode when
shifting
• No shifting in image mode when
tilting
• Pivot point of beam deflector
are available for general users.
Pivot point of gun deflector are
available only for TEM managers.

Homer Yen | NTU Department of Materials Science & Engineering 21

Parallel and Centralized Illumination

• Check whether the beam is
along the optical axis of the
objective lens by Rotation
Center/Current Center/HV
wobbler.

• When the beam is inclined,

one see image movement
when Rotation Center is on.

• Using beam tilt to minimize

the movement of the image.

Homer Yen | NTU Department of Materials Science & Engineering 22

 Parallel and Centralized Illumination
• Comma free
tilted Non-tilted

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Check Points
• Illumination
• Bright spot
• Parallel, centralized and symmetric beam
• Well controllable rays
• Image/Diffraction
• Image mode and diffraction mode
• Clear image
• Clear diffraction pattern

Homer Yen | NTU Department of Materials Science & Engineering 24

Homer Yen | NTU Department of Materials Science & Engineering

Image & Diffraction Pattern

• There are three principles of EM image:

1. Accurate scale/size

2. Correct morphology/shape

3. What is the meaning of contrast? (Chap. 5 & Chap. 6)

Homer Yen | NTU Department of Materials Science & Engineering 26

 Image Formation

Back Focal Plane

Image Plane

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Image Focus

Homer Yen | NTU Department of Materials Science & Engineering

 Image Focus: Fresnel Fringes
Bright Edge Dark Edge

Image shows minimum contrast when just focused.

Ref: Portland University

Homer Yen | NTU Department of Materials Science & Engineering

Astigmatism: Fresnel Fringes

Under-Focus Focus Over-Focus

With Astigmatism
W/O Astigmatism

Ref: [Link]

Homer Yen | NTU Department of Materials Science & Engineering

 Astigmatism: Image Quality
Under-Focus Focus Over-Focus
With Astigmatism
W/O Astigmatism

Ref: [Link]

Homer Yen | NTU Department of Materials Science & Engineering

Astigmatism: Image Transfer Function

Under-Focus Focus Over-Focus

With Astigmatism
W/O Astigmatism

Homer Yen | NTU Department of Materials Science & Engineering

 Image Focus & Specimen Position

d0 x, f ↓, di ↓ d0 ↑, f x, di ↓ d0 ↑, f ↑, di x
1 1 1
+ =
𝑑 𝑑 𝑓 Pattern is not well focused.

Homer Yen | NTU Department of Materials Science & Engineering

Eucentric Height

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 Diffraction Pattern

Back Focal Plane

Image Plane
What if the diffraction pattern is not
well focused into a point?
1. Check eucentric height and sample
position
2-1. Check intermediate lens (insert
obj aperture)
2-2. Check beam parallelism

Homer Yen | NTU Department of Materials Science & Engineering

Diffraction Pattern Focus

• What if the diffraction pattern is not well focused into a
point?
1. Check eucentric height and sample position
2. Check intermediate lens (insert obj aperture)
3. Check beam parallelism

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 Depth of Field & Depth of Focus
• The depth of field is defined as the range of object
distances that are imaged in focus.

- Why it is possible to image the entire thickness of a TEM

sample.

• The depth of focus is the range of distances over which the

image appears in focus in the image plane of a lens.

- Why the same lens settings provide a crisp image on the

viewing screen, CCD camera, which may be separated by
several centimeters.

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Depth of Field & Depth of Focus

Limitation of
our eyes/detector

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 Depth of Focus in SEM
• Larger depth of focus increases the ability to focus objects
from different depths.
• How to increase the depth of focus in SEM?

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TEM & STEM

Homer Yen | NTU Department of Materials Science & Engineering

Homer Yen | NTU Department of Materials Science & Engineering

Any Question?
(homeryen@[Link])

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