Using transmission electron microscopy to quantify the spatial distribution of nanoparticles suspended in a film

Advances in nanotechnology have resulted in a variety of exciting new nanomaterials, such as nanotubes, nanosprings and suspended nanoparticles. Characterizing these materials is important for refining the manufacturing process as well as for determining their optimal application. The scale of the nanocomponents makes high-resolution imaging, such as electron microscopy, a preferred method for performing the analyses. This work focuses on the specific problem of using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and image processing techniques to quantify the spatial distribution of nanoparticles suspended in a film. In particular, we focus on the problem of determining whether the nanoparticles are located in a co-planar fashion or not. The correspondences between particles in images acquired at different tilt angles is used as an estimate of co-planarity.