Individual boron and nitrogen atoms are clearly distinguished by their intensity in this Z-contrast scanning electron transmission microscope image from Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Each single hexagonal ring of the boron-nitrogen structure, for instance the one marked by the green circle in the figure a, consists of three brighter nitrogen atoms and three darker boron atoms. The lower (b) image is corrected for distortion.

(ORNL: Oak  Ridge, TN) -- Using the latest in aberration-corrected electron microscopy, researchers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory and their colleagues have obtained the first images that distinguish individual light atoms such as boron, carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen.

The ORNL images were obtained with a Z-contrast scanning transmission electron microscope (STEM). Individual atoms of carbon, boron, nitrogen, and oxygen—all of which have low atomic numbers—were resolved on a single-layer boron nitride sample.

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