(1. State Key Laboratory for Mechanical Behavior of Materials, School of Materials Science and Engineering,
Xi‘an Jiaotong University, Xi’an 710049, China)
(2. School of Microelectronics, Xian Jiaotong University, Xi‘an 710049, China)
(3. Ernst Ruska Center for Microscopy and Spectroscopy with Electrons, Forschungszentrum Jülich, Jülich 52425, Germany)
In the present review paper we introduce an imaging technique based on aberrationcorrected TEM, the negative CS imaging (NCSI) technique, which results in a highcontrast of image in comparison with conventional positive CS imaging (PCSI) technique. The novel NSCI technique has been applied for not only acquiring highcontrast atomicresolution 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 (eg oxygen) in oxide materials, eg 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.