Optimizing Nonrigid Registration for Scanning Transmission Electron Microscopy Image Series

Microscopy and Microanalysis, vol. 27, pp. 90–98

Abstract

Achieving sub-picometer precision measurements of atomic column positions in high-resolution scanning transmission electron microscope images using nonrigid registration (NRR) and averaging of image series requires careful optimization of experimental conditions and the parameters of the registration algorithm. On experimental data from SrTiO3 [100], sub-pm precision requires alignment of the sample to the zone axis to within 1 mrad tilt and sample drift of less than 1 nm/min. At fixed total electron dose for the series, precision in the fast scan direction improves with shorter pixel dwell time to the limit of our microscope hardware, but the best precision along the slow scan direction occurs at 6 μs/px dwell time. Within the NRR algorithm, the “smoothness factor” that penalizes large estimated shifts is the most important parameter for sub-pm precision, but in general, the precision of NRR images is robust over a wide range of parameters.

Authors 6

1. Chenyu Zhang

   University of Wisconsin–Madison

   Affiliation as printed

   Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Wisconsin - Madison, 1509 University Avenue, Madison, WI53706, USA

   Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Wisconsin – Madison, 1509 University Avenue, Madison, WI 53706, USA

2. Jie Feng

   University of Wisconsin–Madison

   Affiliation as printed

   Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Wisconsin - Madison, 1509 University Avenue, Madison, WI53706, USA

   Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Wisconsin – Madison, 1509 University Avenue, Madison, WI 53706, USA

3. Andrew B. Yankovich

   University of Wisconsin–Madison

   Affiliation as printed

   Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Wisconsin - Madison, 1509 University Avenue, Madison, WI53706, USA

   Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Wisconsin – Madison, 1509 University Avenue, Madison, WI 53706, USA

4. Alexander Kvit

   University of Wisconsin–Madison

   Affiliation as printed

   Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Wisconsin - Madison, 1509 University Avenue, Madison, WI53706, USA

   Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Wisconsin – Madison, 1509 University Avenue, Madison, WI 53706, USA

5. Benjamin Berkels Aachen Aachen Institute for Advanced Study in Computational Engineering Science (AICES)

   RWTH Aachen University · Aachen Institute for Advanced Study in Computational Engineering Science

   Affiliation as printed

   Aachen Institute for Advanced Study in Computational Engineering Science, RWTH Aachen University, Schinkelstr. 2, 52056Aachen, Germany

   Aachen Institute for Advanced Study in Computational Engineering Science, RWTH Aachen University, Schinkelstr. 2, 52056 Aachen, Germany

6. Paul M. Voyles corresponding

   University of Wisconsin–Madison

   Affiliation as printed

   Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Wisconsin - Madison, 1509 University Avenue, Madison, WI53706, USA

   Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Wisconsin – Madison, 1509 University Avenue, Madison, WI 53706, USA