InsteaDMatic: towards cross-platform automated continuous rotation electron diffraction

Maria Roslova; Stef Smeets; Bin Wang; Thomas Thersleff; Hongyi Xu; Xiaodong Zou

doi:10.1107/S1600576720009590

InsteaDMatic: towards cross-platform automated continuous rotation electron diffraction

J Appl Crystallogr. 2020 Aug 20;53(Pt 5):1217-1224. doi: 10.1107/S1600576720009590. eCollection 2020 Oct 1.

Authors

Maria Roslova¹, Stef Smeets¹, Bin Wang¹, Thomas Thersleff¹, Hongyi Xu¹, Xiaodong Zou¹

Affiliation

¹ Department of Materials and Environmental Chemistry (MMK), Stockholm University, Svante Arrhenius väg 16C, Stockholm SE-10691, Sweden.

Abstract

A DigitalMicrograph script, InsteaDMatic, has been developed to facilitate rapid automated 3D electron diffraction/microcrystal electron diffraction data acquisition by continuous rotation of a crystal with a constant speed, denoted as continuous rotation electron diffraction. The script coordinates microscope functions, such as stage rotation, and camera functions relevant for data collection, and stores the experiment metadata. The script is compatible with any microscope that can be controlled by DigitalMicrograph and has been tested on both JEOL and Thermo Fisher Scientific microscopes. A proof of concept has been performed through employing InsteaDMatic for data collection and structure determination of a ZSM-5 zeolite. The influence of illumination settings and electron dose rate on the quality of diffraction data, unit-cell determination and structure solution has been investigated in order to optimize the data acquisition procedure.

Keywords: 3D electron diffraction; 3DED; DigitalMicrograph scripts; automated data collection; cRED; continuous rotation electron diffraction; microED; microcrystal electron diffraction; structure determination.

Grants and funding

This work was funded by Vetenskapsrådet grants 2019-00815 and 2017-05333. Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung grant 177761 to Stef Smeets. Knut och Alice Wallenbergs Stiftelse grant 3DM-NATUR (2018.0237) to Xiaodong Zou.