A small-dataset-trained deep learning framework for identifying atoms on transmission electron microscopy images.

To accurately identify atoms on noisy transmission electron microscope images, a deep learning (DL) approach is employed to estimate the map of probabilities at each pixel for being an atom with element discernment. Thanks to a delicately-designed loss function and the ability to extract features, the proposed DL networks can be trained by a small dataset created from approximately 30 experimental images, each with a size of 256 × 256 pixels. The accuracy and robustness of the network were verified by resolving the structural defects of graphene and polar structures in PbTiO/SrTiO multilayers from both the general TEM images and their imitated images on which intensities of some pixels lost randomly. Such a network has the potential to identify atoms from very few images of beam-sensitive material and explosive images recorded in a dynamical atomic process. The idea of using a small-dataset-trained DL framework to resolve a specific problem may prove instructive for practical DL applications in various fields.