Over the last two decades, we have witnessed a paradigm change in the way we characterize materials using TEM. This latest revolution in resolution began with the first successful implementation of an objective lens aberration corrector, which improved the spatial resolution of TEM and STEM by more than a factor of two to below 50 pm. These developments were followed by faster, more sensitive direct electron (CMOS) detectors, monochromated electron sources for electron spectroscopy and, most recently, magnetic field-free lenses. As the result of these transformational discoveries, we are now able to study materials with unprecedented resolution, sensitivity and precision.

While spatial and energy resolutions better than 60 pm and 5 meV are now possible, aberration-corrected TEM has also enabled a large variety of in-situ experiments, new imaging schemes, and multi-dimensional data acquisitions at close to atomic resolution. Faster or more sensitive detectors in combination with novel data analytics and machine learning is now opening the possibilities for studying beam-sensitive materials or liquids at unprecedented levels.

In this symposium, we will cover a wide range of topics at the frontiers of transmission electron microscopy, including cryo- and in-situ TEM, 4D-STEM, monochromated spectroscopies and multi-dimensional imaging. The integration of image acquisition with machine learning and materials modeling will also be highlighted by invited and contributed talks.

The goal of this symposium is to bring together researchers from the microscopy community and associated interdisciplinary materials science fields to foster new collaborative research and accelerate the developments of novel functional materials and devices.

defects electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS) grain boundaries interface multiscale scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) transmission electron microscopy (TEM)