Scientists have set a new record in atomic resolution imaging. In the journal Science, researchers from Oak Ridge National Laboratory reported using a scanning transmission electron microscope (STEM) to create this direct image of a silicon crystal with .6 angstrom resolution. (An angstrom is one ten-billionth of a meter, the approximate diameter of a single atom.) ORNL researcher Stephen Pennycook:
"It's always better to see what's what. For the materials, chemical and nano sciences, you want to see what is going on at the atomic scale–how atoms bond and how things work."
