We introduce a simple preparation method for ultrathin carbon support
films that is especially useful for high-resolution electron microscopy
(HREM) of nanoparticles. Oxidized iron nanoparticles were used as a test
sample in a demonstration of this method. The film qualities are discussed
on the basis of electron-energy-loss spectroscopy (EELS) and image
analysis techniques such as thickness maps and histograms. We carried out
a comparison between the homemade and commercial film qualities. The
relative thickness of the homemade support films was 0.6 times less than
that of the commercial films, which was calculated from the EELS analysis,
whereas the thicknesses of both carbon support films varied within about
3%. The percentage of the observable area was about 67 ± 7.6% of
the support film. This was about twice as large as the commercial film (32
± 9.3%). The HREM image of the sample prepared with our support
film improved 9% in brightness and 15% in contrast compared with images
obtained with the commercial support.