Direct detectors and their applications in electron microscopy for materials science

The past decade has seen rapid advances in direct detector technology for electron microscopy. Direct detectors are now having an impact on a number of techniques in transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscopy, and scanning TEM (STEM), including single particle cryogenic electron microscopy, in situ TEM, electron backscatter diffraction, four-dimensional STEM, and electron energy loss spectroscopy. This article is intended to serve as an introduction to direct detector technology and an overview of the range of electron microscopy techniques that direct detectors are now being applied to.