Interpreting atomic-resolution spectroscopic images
- Materials Science and Technology Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, P.O. Box 2008, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831 (United States)
- School of Physics, University of Melbourne, Victoria 3010 (Australia)
Core-loss electron energy loss spectroscopy is a powerful experimental tool with the potential to provide atomic-resolution information about electronic structure at defects and interfaces in materials and nanostructures. Interpretation, however, is nonintuitive. Comparison of experimental and simulated compositional maps in LaMnO{sub 3} shows good agreement, apart from an overall scaling of image contrast, and shows that the shape and width of spectroscopic images do not show a simple variation with binding energy, as commonly assumed, or with the size of the orbital excited. For the low lying La N{sub 4,5} edge with threshold at around 99 eV, delocalization does not preclude atomic resolution, but reduces the image contrast. The image width remains comparable to that of the much higher lying O K edge with threshold at around 532 eV. Both edges show a volcanolike feature, a dip at the column position not previously seen experimentally. In the case of the O K edge, this represents an experimental verification of nonlocal inelastic scattering effects in electron energy loss spectroscopy imaging. In the case of the N{sub 4,5} edge, the volcanolike feature is due to dynamical channeling and absorption of the probe through the specimen thickness. Simulation is therefore critical to the interpretation of atomic-resolution elemental maps.
- OSTI ID:
- 21055116
- Journal Information:
- Physical Review. B, Condensed Matter and Materials Physics, Vol. 76, Issue 6; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevB.76.064303; (c) 2007 The American Physical Society; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 1098-0121
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Practical spatial resolution of electron energy loss spectroscopy in aberration corrected scanning transmission elecron microscopy.
X-ray absorption spectroscopy and theoretical investigations of the effect of extended ligands in potassium organic matter interaction
Related Subjects
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY
ABSORPTION
BINDING ENERGY
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
DEFECTS
ELECTRONIC STRUCTURE
ELECTRONS
ENERGY-LOSS SPECTROSCOPY
EV RANGE
IMAGES
INELASTIC SCATTERING
INTERFACES
LANTHANUM COMPOUNDS
MANGANATES
NANOSTRUCTURES
RESOLUTION
SIMULATION
THICKNESS