Patent ID: 7777185

Claim:
A confocal scanning transmission electron microscope, comprising: an electron illumination device providing an incident electron beam propagating in a fixed direction defining a propagation axis; a specimen scanning stage positioned along the propagation axis and configured for movement in at least a first direction and in a second direction, wherein one of the first and second directions is parallel to, and one of the first and second directions is transverse to, the propagation axis, the specimen scanning stage also being configured for receiving the specimen at a specimen position to be scanned; a projector lens positioned for receiving the electron beam transmitted through at least part of the specimen position, the projector lens being arranged for focusing the transmitted beam onto an image plane, the transmitted beam resulting from the specimen position being illuminated by the electron beam; an electron beam limiting device positioned approximately in the image plane for transmitting in-focus illumination and rejecting out-of-focus illumination; a detector positioned after the electron beam limiting device with respect to the fixed direction, the detector detecting a signal originating from electrons of the electron beam; a stage position read-out and a detector read-out, for reading out data for an image having dimensions as small as one nanometer, and wherein a signal is read out from the detector read-out with a corresponding specimen position from the stage position read-out as the scanning stage is moved in at least the first direction and the second direction to collect data for a 3-dimensional image having dimensions as small as one nanometer.