Electron nanodiffraction

Electron nanodiffraction, particularly as performed in a dedicated STEM instrument with coherent illumination, provides, in principle, a means for obtaining information on structural detail in the range between that of STEM image resolution, about 0.2 nm, and the limits of information possible from elastic scattering from atoms, about 0. 03 nm. In practice, most nanodiffraction work has been concerned with finding the crystal structure, crystal defects, and sometimes crystal shapes for nanoparticles in the size range of 1-2 nm or for regions of thin crystalline films of about these dimensions. Available equipment allows for the recording of nanodiffraction patterns at the rate of 30 per second, or faster, providing means for detailed study of extended areas or of dynamical processes.