Agarwal, AkshayKasaei, LeilaHe, XinglinKitichotkul, RuangraweeHitit, Oğuz KağanPeng, MinxuSchultz, J. AlbertFeldman, Leonard C.Goyal, Vivek K.2024-10-292024-10-292024-07-30A. Agarwal, L. Kasaei, X. He, R. Kitichotkul, O.K. Hitit, M. Peng, J.A. Schultz, L.C. Feldman, V.K. Goyal. 2024. "Shot noise-mitigated secondary electron imaging with ion count-aided microscopy." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of USA, Volume 121, Issue 31, pp.e2401246121-. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.24012461210027-84241091-6490https://hdl.handle.net/2144/49428Modern science is dependent on imaging on the nanoscale, often achieved through processes that detect secondary electrons created by a highly focused incident charged particle beam. Multiple types of measurement noise limit the ultimate trade-off between the image quality and the incident particle dose, which can preclude useful imaging of dose-sensitive samples. Existing methods to improve image quality do not fundamentally mitigate the noise sources. Furthermore, barriers to assigning a physically meaningful scale make the images qualitative. Here, we introduce ion count-aided microscopy (ICAM), which is a quantitative imaging technique that uses statistically principled estimation of the secondary electron yield. With a readily implemented change in data collection, ICAM substantially reduces source shot noise. In helium ion microscopy, we demonstrate 3[Formula: see text] dose reduction and a good match between these empirical results and theoretical performance predictions. ICAM facilitates imaging of fragile samples and may make imaging with heavier particles more attractive.e2401246121-Print-ElectronicenAttribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 Internationalhttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/EstimationHelium Ion MicroscopySecondary ElectronsShot NoiseArticle2024-09-1010.1073/pnas.24012461210000-0002-5944-3346 (Agarwal, Akshay)0000-0001-8471-7049 (Goyal, Vivek K)968943