Low-dose electron diffraction tomography (LD-EDT).

• LD-EDT allows obtaining complete electron diffraction data sets in an automated way. • LD-EDT is optimized for dose efficiency on beam sensitive samples. • The high data quality allows solving structures even if the completeness is low. • No special equipment in needed for this method, its implementation is easy. • LD-EDT is fast and can be a routine method for screening inhomogeneous samples. A new electron diffraction tomography method is presented that is aimed to enable high performance electron crystallography experiments on beam sensitive materials using a standard TEM without any special equipment. Low-dose electron diffraction tomography minimizes the electron dose necessary for obtaining data sets suitable for structure solution by irradiating the crystal exclusively during the acquisition of the diffraction patterns. The performance of the method is successfully tested on two model structures, a complex oxide Sr 5 CuGe 9 O 24 and the beam sensitive metal-organic framework (MOF) of manganese formiate. Even when the limited lifetime of a beam sensitive material only allows obtaining a data set of rather low completeness, the data quality is high enough for the structures to be solved to a high precision. Low-dose electron diffraction tomography is easy to implement and doesn't require any special equipment or lengthy calibration processes, making it accessible to a large number of scientists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]