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In a longstanding effort to overcome limits of film and the charge coupled device (CCD) systems in electron microscopy, we have developed a radiation-tolerant system that can withstand direct electron bombardment. A prototype Direct Detection Device (DDD) detector based on an Active Pixel Sensor (APS) has delivered unprecedented performance with an excellent signal-to-noise ratio (approximately 5/1 for a single incident electron in the range of 200-400 keV) and a very high spatial resolution. This intermediate size prototype features a 512x550 pixel format of 5μm pitch. The detector response to uniform beam illumination and to single electron hits is reported. Radiation tolerance with high-energy electron exposure is also impressive, especially with cooling to -15 °C. Stable performance has been demonstrated, even after a total dose of 3.3x10 6 electrons/pixel. The characteristics of this new detector have exciting implications for transmission electron microscopy, especially for cryo-EM as applied to biological macromolecules.

There is an urgent need to replace film and CCD cameras as recording instruments for transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Film is too cumbersome to process and CCD cameras have low resolution, marginal to poor signal-to-noise ratio for single electron detection and high spatial distortion. To find a replacement device, we have tested a high sensitivity active pixel sensor (APS) array currently being developed for nuclear physics. The tests were done at 120 keV in a JEOL 1200 electron microscope. At this energy, each electron produced on average a signal-tonoise ratio about 20/1. The spatial resolution was also excellent with the full width at half maximum (FWHM) about 20 microns. Since it is very radiation tolerant and has almost no spatial distortion, the above tests showed that a high sensitivity CMOS APS array holds great promise as a direct detection device for electron microscopy.