New Views of Materials through Aberration-Corrected STEM

Conference · Wed Dec 31 23:00:00 EST 2008

OSTI ID:1021941

Pennycook, Stephen J ^[1]; Chisholm, Matthew F ^[1]; Lupini, Andrew R ^[1]; Varela del Arco, Maria ^[1]; Borisevich, Albina Y ^[1]; Pantelides, Sokrates T. ^[2]; van Benthem, Klaus ^[1]; Shibata, Naoya ^[3]; Molina Rubio, Sergio I ^[1]; Rashkeev, Sergey ^[1]

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1. ORNL
2. Vanderbilt University
3. University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan

The successful correction of lens aberrations in scanning transmission electron microscopy has allowed an improvement in resolution by a factor of two in just a few years. The benefits for materials research are far greater than a factor of two might imply, because enhanced resolution also brings enhanced image contrast, and therefore a vast increase in sensitivity to single atoms, both for imaging and electron energy loss spectroscopy. In addition, aberration correction enables simultaneous, aberrationcorrected, Z-contrast and phase contrast imaging, and brings a depth resolution at the nanometer level. It becomes possible to focus directly on features at different depths in the specimen thickness, and three-dimensional information can be extracted with single atom sensitivity. In conjunction with density functional and elasticity theory, these advances provide a new level of insight into the atomistic origins of materials properties. Several examples are discussed that illustrate the potential for applications, including the segregation of rare earth elements to grain boundaries in Si3N4 ceramics, the quantitative analysis of strain-induced growth phenomena in semiconductor quantum wells, the explanation of the enhanced thermal stability of La-doped -alumina as a catalyst support, and the origin of the remarkable catalytic activity of Au nanoparticles.

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL)
• Sponsoring Organization: ORNL LDRD Director's R&D; SC USDOE - Office of Science (SC)
• DOE Contract Number: AC05-00OR22725
• OSTI ID: 1021941
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY
ATOMS
CATALYST SUPPORTS
CERAMICS
CORRECTIONS
DENSITY
DEPTH
ELASTICITY
ELECTRON MICROSCOPY
ELECTRONS
ENERGY-LOSS SPECTROSCOPY
GRAIN BOUNDARIES
GROWTH
IMAGES
MATERIALS
QUANTUM WELLS
RARE EARTHS
RESOLUTION
SEGREGATION
SENSITIVITY
STABILITY
STEM
THICKNESS
TRANSMISSION ELECTRON MICROSCOPY
USES
aberration-corrected
materials
new views