Information Transfer in a TEM Corrected for Spherical and Chromatic Aberration

For the transmission electron aberration-corrected microscope (TEAM) initiative of five U.S. Department of Energy laboratories in the United States, a correction system for the simultaneous compensation of the primary axial aberrations, the spherical aberration C(s), and the chromatic aberration C(c) has been developed and successfully installed. The performance of the resulting C(c)/C(s)-corrected TEAM instrument has been investigated thoroughly. A significant improvement of the linear contrast transfer can be demonstrated. The information about the instrument one obtains using Young's fringe method is compared for uncorrected, C(s)-corrected, and C(c)/C(s)-corrected instruments. The experimental results agree well with simulations. The conclusions might be useful to others in understanding the process of image formation in a C(c)/C(s)-corrected transmission electron microscope.