Simplified schematic of the Aberration-Corrected Scanning Transmission Electron Microscopy (STEM) 

The EPSRC National Facility for Aberration-Corrected Scanning Transmission Electron Microscopy (STEM) will open up easier access to the use of electron microscopes, which are tuned to take account of lens distortions, to scientific researchers from universities in UK and the rest of the world.

The new facility builds on the work already carried out at Daresbury, which enables researchers to examine new materials including single atom thick structures as graphene, to learn how for example nanotechnology interacts with biological matter or see what causes diamond material to have distinctive colours. 

Electron microscopes suffer from image distortion which requires powerful computers and a series of magnets to rebalance the electron probe used to examine materials, known as aberration-correction.
In 2003 the pioneering SuperSTEM facility opened the frontiers of electron microscopy to the scientific community by becoming the first user centre in the world to provide access to these types of corrected microscopes.

Now, after a competitive tendering process, EPSRC has awarded the SuperSTEM Consortium status of National Facility for Aberration-Corrected STEM which will build on EPSRC’s previous investment in this resource.

Super STEM Chair Professor Rik Brydson (right) said: “Electron microscopy has undergone a revolution in recent years with leaps in the performance of electron optical elements, sources and detectors.

"While instruments are becoming ever more powerful, their complexity is also multiplied. This trend places renewed emphasis on national facilities that gather in one place state-of-the-art instrumentation and world-leading experts in the field.