Hitachi’s Holography Electron Microscope Attains Record Resolution

A research team from Japan, including scientists from Hitachi, Kyushu University, RIKEN, and HREM Research Inc, has achieved a significant breakthrough in observing magnetic fields at unimaginably small scales.

In collaboration with the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology and the National Institute for Materials Science, the team has developed image acquisition and defocusing correction techniques to observe atomic-scale magnetic fields at a resolution of 0.47nm, using a Hitachi holographic electron microscope. The previous record was 0.67nm, which Hitachi set in 2017.

The breakthrough has been achieved in response to the need to observe, in ultra-high-resolution, the arrangement of atoms and behaviour of electrons in various materials, since it is this behaviour that determines many of the functions and performance levels of devices that support our daily lives, such as mobile phones, personal computers, and cars.

Since 1966, Hitachi has been developing the holography electron microscope as an instrument for the direct observation of electric and magnetic fields in extremely small regions. In 2014, it developed an atomic-resolution microscope (see Figure 2 above) with the support of the Funding Program for World-Leading Innovative R&D on Science and Technology, initiated by the Council for Science, Technology, and Innovation.