Four-Dimensional Scanning Transmission Electron Microscopy (4D-STEM): From Scanning Nanodiffraction to Ptychography and Beyond

Microsc Microanal. 2019 Jun;25(3):563-582. doi: 10.1017/S1431927619000497. Epub 2019 May 14.

Abstract

Scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) is widely used for imaging, diffraction, and spectroscopy of materials down to atomic resolution. Recent advances in detector technology and computational methods have enabled many experiments that record a full image of the STEM probe for many probe positions, either in diffraction space or real space. In this paper, we review the use of these four-dimensional STEM experiments for virtual diffraction imaging, phase, orientation and strain mapping, measurements of medium-range order, thickness and tilt of samples, and phase contrast imaging methods, including differential phase contrast, ptychography, and others.

Keywords: four dimensional-scanning transmission electron microscopy (4D-STEM); nanobeam electron diffraction (NBED); scanning electron nanodiffraction (SEND); transmission electron microscopy (TEM).