Detective quantum efficiency of the 25 μm pixel size imaging plate for transmission electron microscopes

The signal to noise ratio (S/N) and the detective quantum efficiency (DQE) of the 25 μm pixel Imaging Plate for transmission electron microscopy (TEM) were measured as a function of the number of incident electrons. The S/N increased with increasing the number of incident electrons, but tended to saturate in high exposure region, although the good linearity between the number of incident electrons and image signal was reserved in the region. The DQE at 100 kV and 200 kV had the maximum values of about 70% and 45% under high gain mode, and about 20% and 10% under low gain mode, respectively. The DQE at 600 kV had the maximum value of ~30%, while that at 1250 kV had ~5%. Comparing the SIN curves with the DQE curves, the optimum electron intensity regions for high quality TEM images were discussed.