Aberration-Corrected High-Resolution Transmission Electron Microscopy and Its Applications in Functional Oxides

In the present review paper we introduce an imaging technique based on aberration-corrected TEM, the negative C_S imaging (NCSI) technique, which results in a high-contrast of image in comparison with conventional positive C_S imaging (PCSI) technique. The novel NSCI technique has been applied for not only acquiring high-contrast atomic-resolution structure images of materials, but also determining the relative shifts of atomic columns with a precision of a few picometres. In addition, the NCSI technique provides experimental basis for quantitative analysis of the fine changes of atoms including light elements (e.g. oxygen) in oxide materials, e.g. the electric dipoles, domains and domain walls in oxide ferroelectrics, interfaces in heterostructural multilayer films as well as the 3D shape of a nanoscale MgO crystal.