3D reconstruction system of H-7650 TEM for tomography and its application to biological specimen

TEMs are one of the most useful devices to observe the fine structures of samples because their ultra-structures of some materials such as functional proteins and highly designed plastics would be closely related to their intrinsic natures, especially three dimensional structures of molecules would affect their functions. Therefore, the 3D structure of samples might be a key point to investigate their functions. TEM images are formed as 2D projections but they include the 3D information in their contents. TEM tomography recently attracts a great deal of considerable attention as a notable technique to gain the 3D information, in which serially tilted images are reconstructed by back-projection. The 3D reconstruction system of model H-7650 TEM is developed for TEM tomography. The system is composed of automatic image capturing function of serially tilted images and reconstruction software. New algorithm is adopted especially to avoid image artifact due to the missing zone of specimen stage tilting range. The general features of the 3D reconstruction system for the H-7650 and its applications to biological specimens are introduced in this study.