  Atomic resolution imaging in transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and
scanning TEM (STEM) of light elements in electron-transparent materials has
long been a challenge. Biomolecular materials, for example, are rapidly altered
when illuminated with electrons. These issues have driven the development of
TEM and STEM techniques that enable the structural analysis of electron
beam-sensitive and weakly scattering nano-materials. Here, we demonstrate such
a technique, STEM holography, capable of absolute phase and amplitude object
wave measurement with respect to a vacuum reference wave. We use an
amplitude-dividing nanofabricated grating to prepare multiple spatially
separated electron diffraction probe beams focused at the sample plane, such
that one beam transmits through the specimen while the others pass through
vacuum. We raster-scan the diffracted probes over the region of interest. We
configure the post specimen imaging system of the microscope to diffraction
mode, overlapping the probes to form an interference pattern at the detector.
Using a fast-readout, direct electron detector, we record and analyze the
interference fringes at each position in a 2D raster scan to reconstruct the
complex transfer function of the specimen, t(x). We apply this technique to
image a standard target specimen consisting of gold nanoparticles on a thin
amorphous carbon substrate, and demonstrate 2.4 angstrom resolution phase
images. We find that STEM holography offers higher phase-contrast of the
amorphous material while maintaining Au atomic lattice resolution when compared
with high angle annular dark field STEM.
