Influence of temperature on electron penetration in gold crystals observed in electron microscopy at 100 and 1000 kV

Observation of crystals in electron microscopy is limited mainly by electron absorption in the specimen. Of the different processes, the contribution from thermal diffusion scattering by the atoms is important especially for heavy materials such as gold. In order to appreciate these effects, the modifications of image intensity profiles when the temperature decreases were studied. Gold crystals at temperatures between 300 and 10 K were used. Contrast modifications due to reduction of temperature depend on the accelerating voltage as shown by the results obtained at 100 kV and at 1000 kV, interaction effects being much more important for the latter. Comparison between theoretical and experimental intensity curves tested the validity of models proposed by different authors for determining the complex potentials of the crystal lattice. (author)