Limits in detecting an individual dopant atom embedded in a crystal

Annular dark field scanning transmission electron microscope (ADF-STEM) images allow detection of individual dopant atoms located on the surface of or inside a crystal. Contrast between intensities of an atomic column containing a dopant atom and a pure atomic column in ADF-STEM image depends strongly on specimen parameters and microscope conditions. Analysis of multislice-based simulations of ADF-STEM images of crystals doped with one substitutional dopant atom for a wide range of crystal thicknesses, types and locations of dopant atom inside the crystal, and crystals with different atoms reveal some interesting trends and non-intuitive behaviours in visibility of the dopant atom. The results provide practical guidelines to determine the optimal microscope and specimen conditions to detect a dopant atom in experiment, obtain information about the 3-d location of a dopant atom, and recognize cases where detecting a single dopant atom is not possible.