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A scanning transmission electron microscopy mode collecting electrons scattered to sufficiently large angles. It often gives approximately monotonic atomic-number and mass-thickness contrast, with detector angles and multiple scattering still important.

In transmission electron microscopy, the electron objective lens forms an intermediate real-space image and intermediate/projector lenses enlarge it onto a screen or camera. The total optical magnification is the product of the relevant stage magnifications. The user changes imaging-lens excitations to select magnification, while separately controlling illumination and focus. Display resizing introduces an additional enlargement, so the recorded pixel calibration matters.

In scanning transmission electron microscopy, a focused probe is rastered across the specimen and a detector signal is assigned to each probe position. The displayed magnification is display width divided by scanned specimen width. The user increases magnification by reducing raster-deflection amplitude, independently of choosing a smaller incident probe with the probe-forming lenses. TEM changes image-forming lens magnification; STEM changes the raster field of view. A smaller field or more pixels does not create finer physical resolution than the probe, specimen scattering and detection permit. A calibrated real-space scale is more transferable than the apparent size on a monitor.^[ref]

Aberration-corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy with annular dark-field imaging and spatially resolved EELS can locate the Si atoms and test their chemical environment. silicon scatters much more strongly to high angles than carbon, so an isolated Si impurity can stand out in a thin graphene lattice. Neighboring carbon positions reveal whether a site is, for example, three- or four-coordinated in projection.

Acquire a spectrum image at the same time. A silicon core-loss edge identifies the element, while its energy-loss near-edge structure contains information about the unoccupied states and bonding. This combination has experimentally distinguished individual Si coordination environments in graphene.^[ref]

Advantages are atom-scale spatial localization, simultaneous structural and chemical evidence, and stronger chemical identification than brightness alone. Limitations include low counts at one atom, background subtraction, finite energy resolution, drift and the high dose needed for a useful spectrum. The beam can move or damage an impurity, and a two-dimensional projection does not by itself determine its out-of-plane geometry. Compare spectra and images with plausible structural calculations rather than assigning coordination solely from one bright pixel.

In high-angle annular dark-field imaging scanning transmission electron microscopy, electrons scattered to large angles give predominantly incoherent mass–thickness and atomic-number contrast. For comparable thickness, gold is much brighter than nickel–phosphorus because its atomic number is much larger. carbon in the protective cap scatters weakly, whereas its tungsten component scatters strongly. The cap is not a homogeneous low-atomic-number reference.

The gold layer follows a curved, locally distorted interface. The dark central opening in the overview is consistent with a crack, void or locally missing/thinned foil: little material along the beam path gives little high-angle scattering. The granular and columnar variations beneath the gold indicate nanoscale heterogeneity in the affected NiP${}_y$ region. Differences in thickness, density, porosity and composition can all contribute; diffraction/channeling effects are reduced in high-angle annular dark-field imaging but not eliminated in every geometry.

A black region is therefore evidence of low projected scattering mass, not by itself the identity of a chemical phase. In particular, a single high-angle annular dark-field imaging image does not distinguish a pre-existing void from material lost during specimen preparation.

The thin scanning transmission electron microscopy foil restricts scattering to a much smaller projected specimen volume than bulk SEM at $30\mathrm{kV}$. It reveals the nanoscale shape and continuity of the gold/NiP interface, the narrow low-density opening and the fine heterogeneous region underneath the gold, which the larger SEM interaction volume and surface-sensitive collection obscure.

The enlarged view resolves structure on the tens-of-nanometres scale: local interface roughness, small bright and dark domains and the relationship of the gold layer to the damaged or porous-looking NiP${}_y$ region. This helps distinguish an interface-associated defect from merely a change between nominal alloy layers. It still does not identify a crystalline phase or quantify composition without diffraction or spectroscopic analysis. Since the SEM surface and focused ion beam milling lamella need not cut precisely the same volume, correlations should allow for section position.

Use conventional bright-field transmission electron microscopy, with nearly parallel illumination, a suitably small objective aperture and low magnification covering the whole cross-section. More strongly scattering material sends more intensity outside the selected central beam and therefore looks darker. Tilt crystalline layers away from strong Bragg diffraction conditions to reduce diffraction contrast, and use a near-focus image so that electron phase contrast does not dominate.

The nominally uniform $150\mathrm{nm}$ thickness helps separate composition from thickness variations, but does not make the contrast purely compositional: density, atomic number and multiple scattering still matter. Choose an accelerating voltage sufficient to transmit this thickness, commonly $200$–$300\mathrm{kV}$ for a robust inorganic film, subject to its damage limit. High-angle annular dark-field imaging in scanning transmission electron microscopy is a useful alternative for approximately monotonic mass-thickness contrast, but is a different acquisition mode and still requires thickness and detector-angle control.

Use high-resolution transmission electron microscopy with a coherent, well-aligned beam and an objective aperture admitting the direct beam and the spatial frequencies required at the interface. Orient a crystalline region near a suitable zone axis so that useful lattice fringes are excited; minimize drift, vibration and astigmatism. Choose defocus and aberration correction to transfer the target frequencies, rather than treating the image as a direct map of atoms at arbitrary defocus.

An aberration-corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy probe with high-angle annular dark-field imaging can instead resolve an interface with more directly interpretable atomic-number contrast. A nominal $150\mathrm{nm}$ thickness may be too great for clean atomic-resolution interpretation: thin the interface further if necessary, finish focused ion beam milling at lower ion energy to reduce damaged surface layers, and check for curtaining and implantation. The best mode depends on crystallinity and damage sensitivity; an amorphous interface calls for resolving its boundary and composition rather than inventing lattice fringes.

An incident SEM probe undergoes elastic deflections by atomic potentials and inelastic interactions that excite or ionize the specimen. Repeated scattering generates an interaction volume wider and deeper than the incident probe. The measured resolution depends both on where a signal is generated and on whether it can escape.

Transmitted electrons from a sufficiently thin specimen can instead support scanning transmission electron microscopy. The values above are orders of magnitude, not intrinsic constants of the signal: beam energy, atomic number, specimen thickness, probe size and detector geometry all matter. The spatial origin explains why a fine topographic SEM image does not guarantee equally fine X-ray mapping.