ABSTRACT
An important point in technology development is the demand for progress from an application point of view. e driving force for three-dimensional (3D) nanotomography would be weak, if there were no 3D nanoscale objects of timely interest to the research community. While the bio-/medical research eld immediately realized the potential of electron tomography for virus particles, cell organelles, and macromolecular complexes, which are all 3D nanoobjects or microobjects with nanoscale internal details, the research in materials science concentrated for decades on planar cross-sections, which lack the need for tomography. Only the steep rise of (inorganic) nanotechnology, including the fabrication of novel nanoparticles, nanowires, and nanocomposites, nally proved that development of a nanoscale tomography technique has become indispensable. Materials are nowadays more than ever determined by 3D morphology on the nanoscale. e surface-per-volume ratio is exceptionally large for nanoobjects, and even subsurface regions have enhanced functional importance, e.g., in the study of distinct low-dimensionality e ects, such as quantum con nement.
