what is the limitations of de broglie's equation?

Electron diffraction in TEM is subject to several important limitations. First, the sample to be studied must be electron transparent, meaning the sample thickness must be of the order of 100 nm or less. Careful and time consuming sample preparation may therefore be needed. Furthermore, many samples are vulnerable to radiation damage caused by the incident electrons.

The study of magnetic materials is complicated by the fact that electrons are deflected in magnetic fields by the Lorentz force. Although this phenomenon may be exploited to study the magnetic domains of materials by Lorentz force microscopy, it may make crystal structure determination virtually impossible.

Furthermore, electron diffraction is often regarded as a qualitative technique suitable for symmetry determination, but too inaccurate for determination of lattice parameters and atomic positions. But there are also several examples where unknown crystal structures (both inorganic, organic and biological) have been solved by electron crystallography. Lattice parameters of high accuracy can in fact be obtained from electron diffraction, relative errors less than 0.1% have been demonstrated. However, the right experimental conditions may be difficult to obtain, and these procedures are often viewed as too time consuming and the data too difficult to interpret. X-ray or neutron diffraction are therefore often the preferred methods for determining lattice parameters and atomic positions.

However, the main limitation of electron diffraction in TEM remains the comparatively high level of user interaction needed. Whereas both the execution of powder X-ray (and neutron) diffraction experiments and the data analysis are highly automated and routinely performed, electron diffraction requires a much higher level of user input.