We have achieved atomic-resolution imaging of single dopant atoms
buried inside a crystal, a key goal for microelectronic device
characterization, in Sb-doped Si using annular dark-field scanning
transmission electron microscopy. In an amorphous material, the dopant
signal is largely independent of depth, but in a crystal, channeling of
the electron probe causes the image intensity of the atomic columns to
vary with the depths of the dopants in each column. We can determine
the average dopant concentration in small volumes, and, at low
concentrations, the depth in a column of a single dopant. Dopant atoms
can also serve as tags for experimental measurements of probe spreading
and channeling. Both effects remain crucial even with spherical
aberration correction of the probe. Parameters are given for a
corrected Bloch-wave model that qualitatively describes the channeling
at thicknesses <20 nm, but does not account for probe spreading at
larger thicknesses. In thick samples, column-to-column coupling of the
probe can make a dopant atom appear in the image in a different atom
column than its physical position.