Energy resolution of an Omega-type monochromator and imaging properties of the MANDOLINE filter

We report on the energy resolution properties of an Omega-type monochromator. In a TEM/STEM setup with a MANDOLINE filter and extreme stability of the high voltage and the filter current, an energy resolution of 43 meV for 0.1 s exposure time and 87 meV for 100 s exposure time was measured at 200 kV with 40 meV monochromator slit width. The monochromized zero-loss peaks are additionally characterized by their edge steepness. Moreover a drop in the monochromized zero-loss peak by 103 after 260 meV can be obtained even without deconvolution. For small fields of view, the energy resolution mostly does not depend on the MANDOLINE filter. With the Corrected OMEGA filter an energy resolution of 41 meV was measured for 0.03 s exposure time at 200 kV with 30 meV monochromator slit width and 77 meV for 50 s exposure time at 80 kV with 40 meV monochromator slit width. Furthermore, the MANDOLINE filter's setup and imaging properties are presented such as isochromaticity ( < 5 meV) and transmissivity (T ((1ev))=17,400 nm3), which set a new standard for imaging energy filters and allow EFTEM spectrum imaging with energy windows 5 200 meV and reasonable fields of view. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.