STIM WITH ENERGY-LOSS CONTRAST - AN IMAGING MODALITY UNIQUE TO MEV IONS

Scanning transmission ion microscopy (STIM) through measurement of energy loss of individual ions is a quantitative imaging technique with several unique capabilities. The uniqueness derives conjointly from the large penetration with small scattering of MeV ions in low-Z specimens, from the simple relationship between energy loss and projected or areal density, and from the almost 100% efficiency with which one obtains pixel data from individual ions. Since contrast is in energy loss and not in numbers of events, the statistics of energy loss straggling affects the image but the statistics of counting does not. Small scattering makes it possible to observe details within transparent specimens. High efficiency makes it possible to collect large data sets for computed tomography, stereo, or high-definition imaging with a small radiation dose. High efficiency allows one to minimize aberrations by use of small apertures, to achieve good precision in the determination of areal density, or even to image live biological specimens in air since only one or few ions per pixel are required. This paper includes a bibliography on STIM with MeV ions, it discusses the accuracy that one can achieve in the areal density coloring of a pixel with data from one or a few ions, and it supplements that review with recent examples from the Melbourne and the Eugene microprobes.