TEM (Transmission Electron Microscope)

The transmission electron microscope is a very powerful tool for material science.A high energy beam of electrons is shone through a very thin sample, and the interactions between the electrons and the atoms can be used to observe features such as the crystal structure and features in the structure like dislocations and grain boundaries.

TEM can be used to study the growth of layers, their composition and defects in semiconductors. High resolution can be used to analyze the quality, shape, size and density of quantum wells, wires and dots.

TEM operates on the same basic principles as the light microscope but uses electrons instead of light. Because the wavelength of electrons is much smaller than that of light, the optimal resolution attainable for TEM images is many orders of magnitude better than that from a light microscope. Thus, TEMs can reveal the finest details of internal structure - in some cases as small as individual atoms.