Towards the commercialization of compressed ultrafast transmission electron microscopy (CUTEM) (Phase I)

透射电子显微镜（TEM）在许多应用中是不可或缺的。其全球市场规模在2020年达到5.56 - 9.93亿美元，在过去十年中以9.4%的平均增长率扩大。然而，现有技术没有足够的成像速度和序列深度来跟踪许多不可逆的材料转化或生物过程。为了克服这些限制，我们最近发明了压缩超快透射电子显微镜（CUTEM）。基于商业上可用的动态TEM系统，CUTEM将在选定的区域孔径平面上添加空间编码掩模，并对扫描电极对施加高压斜坡。通过这些经济和简单的改进，与目前最先进的电影模式动态TEM相比，CUTEM的时间分辨率提高了1000倍，序列深度提高了100倍。这种前所未有的成像能力使CUTEM为研究材料和生物学中以前无法进入的物理和化学开辟了新的途径。由NSERC和INRS资助的一项市场研究表明，TEM制造商和用户都对其非常感兴趣。NSERC I- I阶段项目旨在进一步将CUTEM技术推向商业产品。本文提出了将空间编码掩模和扫描脉冲发生器集成到现有TEM机器中的四个目标，以提高CUTEM中的图像重建速度，并利用CUTEM原型演示单次纳米皮秒成像。建立的理论框架、成熟的技术基础、简单明了的工程流程，使本项目技术风险较低。反过来，这些优点将确保该项目的按时执行和快速进展，并将加快未来的技术转让和设备商业化。

Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) is indispensable to numerous applications. Its global market size, valued at US$ 556-993 million in 2020, has expanded at an average growth rate of 9.4% in the past decade. However, existing techniques do not have sufficient imaging speeds and sequence depths to follow many irreversible materials transformations or biological processes. To overcome these limitations, we recently invented compressed ultrafast transmission electron microscopy (CUTEM). Built upon a commercially available dynamic TEM system, CUTEM will add a spatial encoding mask at the selected area aperture plane and will apply a high-voltage ramp to the pair of sweep electrodes. With these economical and simple modifications, CUTEM will enhance the temporal resolution by 1000× and the sequence depth by 100× compared with the state-of-the-art movie-mode dynamic TEM. This unprecedented imaging capability allows CUTEM to open new avenues for studying previously inaccessible physics and chemistry in materials and biology. A market study funded by NSERC and INRS has demonstrated a great interest from both TEM manufacturers and users.This NSERC I2I-Phase I project aims to further develop the CUTEM technique toward a commercial product. In total, four Aims are proposed to integrate a spatial encoding mask and a sweep pulse generator into an existing TEM machine, to improve image reconstruction speed in CUTEM, and to demonstrate single-shot nanometer-picosecond imaging using the CUTEM prototype. The established theoretical framework, mature technical foundation, and straightforward engineering procedure endow the low technical risks of this project. In turn, these merits will ensure the on-time execution and fast progress of this project and will speed up future technology transfer and device commercialization.