Gatan, Inc. 3D Tomography-Acquisition Software

3D Tomography-Acquisition Software

Electron tomography has become a popular means to determine three dimensional structures on a range of scales in materials ranging from biological samples to those typical of the semiconductor industry. These diverse specimens, however, require a diverse number of techniques to best understand the material under study. Gatan now provides tomography acquisition software in DigitalMicrograph™ that makes it possible to collect a tomographic tilt series using TEM, STEM or EFTEM modes of operation.

TEM Tomography in DigitalMicrograph. Gatan's 3D Tomography Software collecting a tilt series from a sample of boron nanotubes. The three images on the top right show the focus tracking in progress, while the three images on the bottom right show the x,y tracking in progress. The large image on the left displays the collected tilt series. The palette on the top right shows the tomography control interface during acquisition.

Key Features

Whether you collect your data in TEM, STEM or EFTEM mode the software provides the following key features:

Tracking

Live tracking or Stage Calibration methods for tracking specimen drift and stage movement.
Manual override mode for extreme low contrast specimens or a particularly poor stage.
Tracking data can be used to reduce dose on subsequent acquisitions or to improve tracking at high magnifications.
Intelligent prompting when drift becomes excessive.

Report Generation

Graphical output of tracking data measured during series acquisition.
Graphical output of stage calibration used, or stage calibration for current holder.
Log of corrections applied as series acquisition proceeds.
Summary of experiment setup from tilt series.

2D Visualization

Step through acquired series and view individual planes.
Play tilt series as a movie and export to movie format.

Data Access

During acquisition data can be saved plane-by-plane to file or stored in memory, or both.
3-D series can be saved in DM3 or other formats for import into other reconstruction and visualization packages.
Access data through DigitalMicrograph's powerful scripting language.

Compatibility

The Gatan Tomography software is compatible with a broad range of microscopes equipped with computer controlled stages - see the particular mode of interest for further details.

TEM Tomography

The TEM Tomography software enables collection of data in TEM mode on any microscope equipped with the following computer controllable components: objective lens, image-shift deflectors, beam-shift deflectors, and a tilting stage. Drift corrections are performed by means of the objective lens and image-shift, beam-shift deflectors. Specific features are:

Supports any Gatan digital camera
Z-tracking through beam-tilt induced image-shift method

STEM Tomography

The STEM Tomography software enables collection of data in STEM mode on a microscope equipped with the following computer controllable components: condenser lens and/or objective lens, and a tilting stage. The microscope must be equipped with a Gatan DigiScan scan generator (DigiScan I or DigScan II) and compatible STEM detector. Specific features are:

Supports a wide range of DigiScan compatible STEM detectors
Novel Z tracking algorithm tested successfully on precipitates, nanowires, calibration gratings and more with accuracy to better than one nanometer
X and Y drift correction with sub pixel accuracy
Focus dynamically adjusted through acquisition of each image to ensure focus on tilted specimens
Independent magnification levels for tracking and data acquisition
Simultaneous STEM signal acquisition - e.g. bright field and high angle annular dark field signals


Click on the image above to play the movie. If you have a problem viewing these movies click here to download the BF movie (left) and here to download the HAADF movie (right).

Interplanetary dust particle. STEM tilt series acquired with a Gatan 805 BF/ADF detector and Gatan 806 HAADF detector from -61� to 68� by Dr. Ilke Arslan of Sandia National Laboratories, Livermore, California and Dr. John P. Bradley of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, California.

EFTEM Tomography

The ETEM Tomography software enables collection of data from a microscope equipped with an energy filter. The filter can be either a Gatan Imaging Filter or certain JEOL or ZEISS in-column filters equipped with a Gatan CCD camera. The microscope must be equipped with the following computer controllable components: objective lens, image-shift deflectors, beam-shift deflectors, and a tilting stage. Specific features are:

The only commercial software which enables EFTEM Tomography
Acquire an EFTEM tilt series on a TEM equipped any energy filter (Gatan Imaging Filter or an in-column filter) and a Gatan Camera
Track X,Y and Z drifts at any energy loss or with zero-loss or unfiltered images
Periodically adjust the filter to correct energy drift (available on Gatan Imaging Filters only)
Full support for jump-ratio, elemental or thickness mapping

Click on the image above to play the movie. If you have a problem viewing this movie click here to download a copy.

Carbon nanotubes containing iron catalyst particles with TiO2 powder. EFTEM tilt series acquired with a Gatan Tridiem energy filter from -50� to 50�. A plasmon series (5eV slit, 17.6eV energy), titanium L-23 series (30eV slit, 2 pre-edge, 1 post-edge), and iron L-23 series (40eV slit, 2 pre-edge, 1 post-edge) were collected. Elemental series for titanium (blue) and iron (red) were generated with Gatan's elemental mapping software and combined with the plasmon series (green).

Product Requirements

Product	System Requirements	Suggested Configuration
TEM Tomography	DigitalMicrograph Any Gatan CCD camera, including GIF camera Any supported electron microscope¹	>200 GB free hard drive space
EFTEM Tomography	DigitalMicrograph Any GIF or any supported in-column filter² equipped with a Gatan CCD camera Any supported electron microscope¹	>200 GB free hard drive space
STEM Tomography	DigitalMicrograph DigiScan I or II One or more DigiScan compatible STEM detectors³	>200 GB free hard drive space

¹ Supported Electron Microscopes include most recent JEOL, FEI, ZEISS TEM/STEM microscopes. Microscope must have computer controlled 4-axis stage control. Contact Gatan to confirm compatibility.
² Supported Energy Filters include all Gatan Imaging Filters, most JEOL and ZEISS in-column filters when equipped with a Gatan CCD camera. Contact Gatan to confirm compatibility.
³ Supported DigiScan Compatible Detectors include the Gatan 805 BF/DF STEM detector and the Gatan 806 HAADF detector and others. Contact Gatan to confirm compatibility

For complete product and ordering information, see the complete 3D Tomography Brochure or contact your local Sales office.