Imaging of graphene at 200 kV using electron counting

Instruments used

The K3^® IS camera delivers simultaneous low-dose imaging via real-time electron counting, fast continuous data capture, and a large field of view.

Background

2D materials like graphene are increasingly studied for their unique and tunable properties. Typically, due to its sensitivity to electron beam irradiation, graphene is only studied using 80 kV or lower accelerating voltages. This low accelerating voltage makes it more challenging to observe graphene at the atomic scale using a transmission electron microscope (TEM) without using a monochromator or aberration correction. Instead, it may be possible to observe graphene and other 2D materials using lower dose rates, though these are limited by the inherently low contrast of single-layer graphene.