Method for enhancing the contrast for a transmission electron microscope

US6563112B1 · kind B1 · utility

Assignee

• DEUTSCHES KREBSFORSCHUNGSZENTRUM STIFTUNG DES ÖFFENTLICHEN RECHTS · DE

Inventors

• Ansgar Haking · Eppelheim, DE
• Helmut Troster · Königstein, DE
• Karsten Richter · Ketsch, DE
• Michael Trendelenburg · Dossenheim, DE

Key dates

• Filing date: Oct 27, 2000
• Grant date: May 13, 2003
• Expiry date: Oct 27, 2020

Classification

• Technology area (CPC G): Physics
• CPC primary: G01N23/06
• WIPO field: Measurement
• WIPO sector: Instruments

Abstract

The intention is to provide a process for the contrast enhancement of a specific particle in an image of a specimen, taken by a transmission electron microscope, in which a calculated contrast-rich image is created by way of the background intensities calculated from the intensities of a first image being drawn off pixel by pixel, whereby the background intensities are calculated as a function of the intensities of a second image. In this situation, it is intended that this process should feature a higher range of application than processes known hitherto, and, in particular, are well-suited for contrast enhancement for gold particles in immuno-gold marking. It is proposed, for this purpose, that the first image be taken under conditions in which the particle features the highest possible contrast, and that the second image is taken in a selected energy window which is selected in such a way that the contrast difference between the two images for the particle differs by the corresponding contrast difference for at least a second specimen constituent.