Atomic Resolution at Very Low Acceleration Voltages

SALVE Project Enters Second Phase

Aug. 09, 2011

A successful evaluation phase prompts University of Ulm and Carl Zeiss to continue with their joint venture to develop a high-performance transmission electron microscope.

After two-year evaluation phase, the University of Ulm, CEOS GmbH and Carl Zeiss NTS have signed an agreement to embark on the next phase of the SALVE project. SALVE – which stands for Sub-Angstrom Low Voltage Electron Microscope – is a research project in the field of electron microscopy to be undertaken in Germany. The objective of the project is to develop and build a transmission electron microscope capable of imaging samples with atomic resolution at very low acceleration voltages. The researchers are also aiming to develop suitable sample preparation methods.

What Makes the Difference?

The advantages offered by this approach are clear: Unlike the current generation of medium-voltage TEMs with accelerating voltages of between 200 and 300 kV, which destroy radiation-sensitive samples before researchers can record usable images or perform material analysis, the SALVE project will keep specimens stable long enough to perform experimental work. Implementation of this tantalizing concept was previously seen as impossible due to the physical and technical hurdles that stood in the way of achieving the required resolution, because lower accelerating voltages lead to significant optical aberrations.

First Phase of SALVE

However, the first phase of the cooperation project conducted between 2009 and 2011 – in which researchers analyzed the feasibility of the key principles involved – has produced some spectacular results, with the scientists successfully generating atomic-resolution images at accelerating voltages well below 80 kV.

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Based on this initial success, the German Research Foundation (DFG) and the Ministry for Science, Research and Art from the Federal State of Baden-Wuerttemberg (MWK/BW) support the SALVE project in its second phase with 3.2Mio € (DFG) and 2.1 Mio € (MWK/BW).

Potential Applications
During celebrations to mark the start of the project’s second phase, Project Manager Professor Ute Kaiser from the University of Ulm and a number of guest speakers, including Nobel Prize winner Klaus von Klitzing, presented some of the applications in which the SALVE system could potentially be used. Ranging from studies of superconductors and semiconductors to research into lithium-ion batteries, plastics and biological materials, some of the examples they highlighted have already yielded preliminary results.

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Atomic Resolution at Very Low Acceleration Voltages

SALVE Project Enters Second Phase

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