Comparison of optimal performance at 300keV of three direct electron detectors for use in low dose electron microscopy

Abstract

Low dose electron imaging applications such as electron cryo-microscopy are now benefitting from the improved performance and flexibility of recently introduced electron imaging detectors in which electrons are directly incident on backthinned CMOS sensors. There are currently three commercially available detectors of this type: the Direct Electron DE-20, the FEI Falcon II and the Gatan K2 Summit. These have different characteristics and so it is important to compare their imaging properties carefully with a view to optimise how each is used. Results at 300keV for both the modulation transfer function (MTF) and the detective quantum efficiency (DQE) are presented. Of these, the DQE is the most important in the study of radiation sensitive samples where detector performance is crucial. We find that all three detectors have a better DQE than film. The K2 Summit has the best DQE at low spatial frequencies but with increasing spatial frequency its DQE falls below that of the Falcon II.

Full text

Its licence does not allow us to show the full text. Read it at PubMed Central:

References 16

1. 1.

   Dainty J., Shaw R. 1974.

   Not in our library

2. 2.

   A.R. Faruqi, R. Henderson, M. Prydderch, R. Turchetta, P. Allport, A. Evans, MAPS detector, Nucl. Instrum. Methods 11 (2005) 2001–2009. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.nima.2005.03.023.

   Not in our library

3. 3.

   Milazzo A.-C., Leblanc P., Duttweiler F., Jin L., Bouwer J.C., Peltier S., Ellisman M., Bieser F., Matis H.S., Wieman H., Denes P., Kleinfelder S., Xuong N.-H. Active pixel sensor array as a detector for electron microscopy. Ultramicroscopy. 2005;104(2):152-159.

   Not in our library10.1016/j.ultramic.2005.03.006

4. 4.
   Detective quantum efficiency of electron area detectors in electron microscopy · 2009

   No notice
5. 5.

   McMullan G., Clark A., Turchetta R., Faruqi A. Enhanced imaging in low dose electron microscopy using electron counting. Ultramicroscopy. 2009;109(12):1411-1416.

   Not in our library10.1016/j.ultramic.2009.07.004

6. 6.

   Meyer R.R., Kirkland A. The effects of electron and photon scattering on signal and noise transfer properties of scintillators in CCD cameras used for electron detection. Ultramicroscopy. 1998;75(1):23-33.

   Not in our library

7. 7.

   Boothroyd C., Kasama T., Dunin-Borkowski R. Comparison of approaches and artefacts in the measurement of detector modulation transfer functions. Ultramicroscopy. 2013;129(0):18-29.

   Not in our library10.1016/j.ultramic.2013.03.001

8. 8.

   Landau L. On the energy loss of fast particles by ionization. J. Phys. USSR. 1944;8:201-205.

   Not in our library

9. 9.

   Meyer R.R., Kirkland A.I. Characterisation of the signal and noise transfer of CCD cameras for electron detection. Microsc. Res. Tech. 2000;49(3):269-280.

   Not in our library10.1002/(sici)1097-0029(20000501)49:3<269::aid-jemt5>3.0.co;2-b

10. 10.
    A Bayesian View on Cryo-EM Structure Determination · 2012

    No notice
11. 11.

    McMullan G., Cattermole D., Chen S., Henderson R., Llopart X., Summerfield C., Tlustos L., Faruqi A. Electron imaging with Medipix2 hybrid pixel detector. Ultramicroscopy. 2007;107(4–5):401-413.

    Not in our library10.1016/j.ultramic.2006.10.005

12. 12.

    Ruskin R.S., Yu Z., Grigorieff N. Quantitative characterization of electron detectors for transmission electron microscopy. J. Struct. Biol. 2013;184(3):385-393.

    Not in our library10.1016/j.jsb.2013.10.016

13. 13.

    Li X., Mooney P., Zheng S., Booth C.R., Braunfeld M.B., Gubbens S., Agard D.A., Cheng Y. Electron counting and beam-induced motion correction enable near-atomic-resolution single-particle cryo-em. Nat. Method. 2013;10(6):584-590.

    Not in our library10.1038/nmeth.2472

14. 14.

    McMullan G., Turchetta R., Faruqi A.R. Single event imaging for electron microscopy using maps detectors. J. Instrum. 2011;6(04):C04001.

    Not in our library

15. 15.

    Vinothkumar K.R., McMullan G., Henderson R. Molecular mechanism of antibody-mediated activation of β-galactosidase. Structure. 2014;22:621-627.

    Not in our library10.1016/j.str.2014.01.011

16. 16.

    Li X., Zheng S.Q., Egami K., Agard D.A., Cheng Y. Influence of electron dose rate on electron counting images recorded with the K2 camera. J. Struct. Biol. 2013;184(2):251-260.

    Not in our library10.1016/j.jsb.2013.08.005

Cited by papers we hold 8

• Experimental evaluation of super-resolution imaging and magnification choice in single-particle cryo-EM · 2021
  Not checked
• Throughput and resolution with a next-generation direct electron detector · 2019
  Not checked
• Structure of the Deactive State of Mammalian Respiratory Complex I · 2018
  No notice
• Transmission Electron Microscopy as a Tool for the Characterization of Soft Materials: Application and Interpretation · 2017
  No notice
• An introduction to sample preparation and imaging by cryo-electron microscopy for structural biology · 2016
  No notice
• 2.8 Å resolution reconstruction of the Thermoplasma acidophilum 20S proteasome using cryo-electron microscopy · 2015
  No notice
• Advances in Single-Particle Electron Cryomicroscopy Structure Determination applied to Sub-tomogram Averaging · 2015
  No notice
• Measuring the optimal exposure for single particle cryo-EM using a 2.6 Å reconstruction of rotavirus VP6 · 2015
  No notice

Reads

A person counts once a day per paper. We keep no cookie and no address: a reader is a hash that changes every day. Any month under five reads shows no number.