Diffraction patterns of artificial two-dimensional crystals synthesized in situ in an environmental scanning transmission electron microscope

In this study, we demonstrated the use of electron-beam-induced deposition for synthesis of artificial two-dimensional crystals with an in situ scanning transmission electron microscope. The structures were deposited from W(CO) ₆ in an environmental scanning transmission electron microscope on a 30-nm-thick Si₃N₄ substrate. We present clear electron beam diffraction patterns taken from those structures. The distance between the diffraction peaks corresponded to the dot spacing in the self-made surface crystal. We propose using these arrays of dots as anchor points for making artificial crystals for diffraction analysis of weakly scattering or beam-sensitive molecules such as proteins.