Mechanisms of radiation damage in beam‐sensitive specimens, for TEM accelerating voltages between 10 and 300 kV

Abstract Ionization damage (radiolysis) and knock‐on displacement are compared in terms of scattering cross section and stopping power, for thin organic specimens exposed to the electrons in a TEM. Based on stopping power, which includes secondary processes, radiolysis is found to be predominant for all incident energies (10–300 keV), even in materials containing hydrogen. For conducting inorganic specimens, knock‐on displacement is the only damage mechanism but an electron dose exceeding 1000 C cm −2 is usually required. Ways of experimentally determining the damage mechanism (with a view to minimizing damage) are discussed. Microsc. Res. Tech., 2012. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.