Numerous physical phase plates (PP) for phase-contrast enhancement in transmission electron microscopy (TEM) have been proposed and studied with the hole-free or Volta PP having a high impact and interest in recent years. This study is concerned with comparative TEM image simulations considering realistic descriptions of various PP approaches and samples from three different fields of application covering a large range of object sizes. The simulated images provide an illustrative characterization of the typical image appearance and common artifacts of the different PPs and the influence of simulation parameters especially important for PP simulations. A quantitative contrast analysis shows the superior phase-shifting properties of the hole-free phase plate for biological applications and the benefits of adjustable phase plates. The application of PPs in high-resolution TEM imaging, especially of weak-phase objects such as (atomically thin) 2D materials, is shown to increase image interpretability. The software with graphical user interface written and used for the presented simulations is available for free usage.

近年来，已经提出并研究了许多用于透射电子显微镜 (TEM) 中相衬增强的物理相位板 (PP)，其中无孔或 Volta PP 具有很高的影响力和兴趣。本研究涉及比较 TEM 图像模拟，考虑到各种 PP 方法和来自三个不同应用领域的样品的真实描述，涵盖了大范围的物体尺寸。模拟图像提供了不同 PP 的典型图像外观和常见伪影的说明性表征，以及对 PP 模拟特别重要的模拟参数的影响。定量对比分析显示了用于生物应用的无孔相位板的优越相移特性和可调相位板的优点。PP 在高分辨率 TEM 成像中的应用，尤其是弱相物体，如（原子级薄）2D 材料，被证明可以提高图像的可解释性。具有图形用户界面的软件可免费使用，用于所呈现的模拟。