Calculated high resolution electron microscopy images of nano-sized structures obtained by molecular dynamics

The limits of high resolution electron microscopy (HREM) applied to quantum-sized structures were investigated by designing a simulation method which combines molecular dynamics and HREM imaging. Standard molecular dynamics is used to simulate either disorder due to ion irradiation or the formation of layered structures by beam-assisted deposition. The HREM images of the structures thus obtained are computed by a multislice dynamic procedure. For both cases the simulation results indicate that HREM images reproduce closely the actual lattice structure.