Patent ID: 9570270
Date: 2017-02-14
CPC Classifications: H01J

Claim:
1. A method of using an environmental transmission electron microscope, the environmental transmission electron microscope comprising: an electron source for generating a beam of electrons; a condenser system for directing the beam of electrons on a sample, the sample located in a sample chamber; an imaging system for imaging electrons transmitted through the sample on a detector system; and a gas regulating system for regulating a gas pressure and a gas composition in the sample chamber, the gas regulation system maintaining a pressure of between 0.5 and 50 mbar in at least part of the sample chamber, the environmental transmission electron microscope suffering from gas-induced resolution deterioration, the method comprising: generating a beam of electrons directing the beam of electrons on the sample in the sample chamber; forming an image using electrons imaging transmitted through the sample and onto the detector system; and removing ionized gas from the sample chamber by generating an electric field in the sample chamber, as a result of which gas-induced resolution deterioration is diminished.