Comparative holographic imaging

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11450508-B2
Application number	US-201916717748-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 17, 2019
Priority date	Dec 17, 2019
Publication date	Sep 20, 2022
Grant date	Sep 20, 2022

Abstract

Apparatuses and methods for comparative holographic imaging to improve structural and molecular information of reconstructions is disclosed herein. An example method at least includes acquiring a plurality of holograms of a sample, wherein each hologram of the plurality of holograms is acquired at a different electron beam energy, and determining atomic and structural information of the sample based at least on a comparison of at least two of the holograms of the plurality of holograms.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
acquiring, with an electron beam, a plurality of holograms of a sample, wherein each hologram of the plurality of holograms is acquired at a different electron beam energy; and
determining atomic and structural information of the sample based at least on a comparison of at least two of the holograms of the plurality of holograms, wherein the atomic information provides information about the atoms forming the sample and bonding information.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the structural information includes depth information for components of the sample, the depth information in a direction of the electron beam path.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the components of the sample includes atoms and complexes that form the sample.

4. The method of claim 1 , further including forming a reconstructed image of the sample for each hologram of the plurality of holograms to obtain a plurality of reconstructed images.

5. The method of claim 4 , further including determining atomic and structural information of the sample based at least on a comparison of two of the reconstructed images of the plurality of reconstructed images.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the atomic information provides information about the atoms forming the sample and bonding information.

7. The method of claim 5 , wherein the structural information includes depth information for components of the sample, the depth information in a direction of the electron beam path.

8. The method of claim 1 , further including adjusting an electron emitter between acquiring each hologram of the plurality of holograms to change the energy of the electron beam.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein acquiring a plurality of holograms of a sample at least comprises:
exposing the sample to the electron beam a plurality of times, wherein an energy of the electron beam is different for each acquisition of a hologram of the plurality of holograms; and
detecting, by a detector, an interference pattern in response to each exposure.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the energy of the electron beam varies from 50 eV to 250 eV.

11. The method of claim 9 , wherein the detector is either a direct electron detector or a micro-channel plate detector.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining atomic and structural information of the sample based at least on a comparison of the holograms of the plurality of holograms comprises:
averaging, convolving, deconvolving, subtracting, adding, multiplying, dividing, or combinations thereof the plurality of holograms to determine the atomic and structural information.

13. An apparatus comprising:
an emitter coupled to emit an electron beam toward a sample;
a detector coupled to receive the electron beam after interacting with the sample; and
a controller coupled to the emitter and detector, the controller including code that, when executed, causes the controller to:
acquire, with an electron beam, a plurality of holograms of a sample, wherein each hologram of the plurality of holograms is acquired at a different electron beam energy; and
determine atomic and structural information of the sample based at least on a comparison of at least two of the holograms of the plurality of holograms, wherein the atomic information provides information about the atoms forming the sample and bonding information.

14. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the structural information includes depth information for components of the sample, the depth information in a direction of the electron beam path.

15. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the code to determine atomic and structural information of the sample based at least on a comparison of the holograms of the plurality of holograms further comprises code that, when executed by the controller, causes the controller to:
average, convolve, deconvolve, subtract, add, multiply, divide, or combinations thereof the at least two holograms of the plurality of holograms to determine the atomic and structural information.

16. The apparatus of claim 13 , further including code that, when executed by the controller, causes the controller to:
form a reconstructed image of the sample for each hologram of the plurality of holograms to obtain a plurality of reconstructed images.

17. The apparatus of claim 16 , further including code that, when executed by the controller, causes the controller to:
determine atomic and structural information of the sample based at least on a comparison of two of the reconstructed images of the plurality of reconstructed images.

18. The apparatus of claim 13 , further including code that, when executed by the controller, causes the controller to:
expose the sample to the electron beam a plurality of times, wherein an energy of the electron beam is different for each acquisition of a hologram of the plurality of holograms; and
detect an interference pattern in response to each exposure.

Assignees

• Fei Co

Inventors

• Bahm Alan

Classifications

• G03H2001/2655

  Time multiplexing, i.e. consecutive records wherein the period between records is pertinent per se · CPC title

• H01J37/265

  Controlling the tube; circuit arrangements adapted to a particular application not otherwise provided, e.g. bright-field-dark-field illumination · CPC title

• G03H1/0866

  Digital holographic imaging, i.e. synthesizing holobjects from holograms · CPC title

• H01J37/222 Primary

  Image processing arrangements associated with the tube · CPC title

• G03H1/0443

  Digital holography, i.e. recording holograms with digital recording means (holobject computation G03H1/0866) · CPC title