Nanotech News and Headlines

New 4D-STEM Method Isolates Atomic Structures From Clustered Nanocrystals

Scientists at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have introduced a 4D‑STEM workflow that isolates individual nanocrystals from dense clusters using computational "virtual apertures." The approach couples a nanometer‑scale electron probe with a custom 4D Camera that records diffraction patterns at 87,000 frames per second, streaming terabytes of data to the Perlmutter supercomputer for real‑time compression and analysis. Demonstrated on the UiO‑66 metal‑organic framework, the method resolved its atomic structure without needing large, pristine crystals. Researchers say this could reshape electron‑based crystallography for materials previously deemed unsuitable for analysis.