Design of a novel correlative reflection electron microscope for in-situ real-time chemical analysis*

A novel instrument that integrates reflection high energy electron diffraction (RHEED), electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS), and imaging is designed and simulated. Since it can correlate the structural, elemental, and spatial information of the same surface region via the simultaneously acquired patterns of RHEED, EELS, and energy-filtered electron microscopy, it is named correlative reflection electron microscopy (c-REM). Our simulation demonstrates that the spatial resolution of this c-REM is lower than 50 nm, which meets the requirements for in-situ monitoring the structural and chemical evolution of surface in advanced material.

Automated summary

The newly designed correlative reflection electron microscopy (c-REM) integrates RHEED, EELS, and imaging, allowing for the simultaneous acquisition of structural, elemental, and spatial information of the same surface region with a spatial resolution of less than 50 nm. It is suitable for in-situ monitoring of the structural and chemical evolution of surfaces in advanced materials.