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Title: Signatures of distinct impurity configurations in atomic-resolution valence electron-energy-loss spectroscopy: Application to graphene

Journal Article · · Physical Review B
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [5];  [1]
  1. Vanderbilt Univ., Nashville, TN (United States). Dept. of Physics and Astronomy; Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Materials Science & Technology Division
  2. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Materials Science & Technology Division; Vanderbilt Univ., Nashville, TN (United States). Dept. of Physics and Astronomy
  3. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Materials Science & Technology Division
  4. National Univ of Singapore (Singapore). Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering
  5. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Center for Nanophase Materials Science (CNMS)

The detection and identification of impurities and other point defects in materials is a challenging task. Signatures for point defects are typically obtained using spectroscopies without spatial resolution. Here in this paper, we demonstrate the power of valence electron-energy-loss spectroscopy (VEELS) in an aberration-corrected scanning transmission-electron microscope (STEM) to provide energy-resolved and atomically resolved maps of electronic excitations of individual impurities which, combined with theoretical simulations, yield unique signatures of distinct bonding configurations of impurities. We report VEELS maps for isolated Si impurities in graphene, which are known to exist in two distinct configurations. We also report simulations of the maps, based on density functional theory and dynamical scattering theory, which agree with and provide direct interpretation of observed features. We show that theoretical VEELS maps exhibit distinct and unambiguous signatures for the threefold- and fourfold-coordinated configurations of Si impurities in different energy-loss windows, corresponding to impurity-induced bound states, resonances, and antiresonances. With the advent of new monochromators and detectors with high energy resolution and low signal-to-noise ratio, the present work ushers an atomically resolved STEM-based spectroscopy of individual impurities as an alternative to conventional spectroscopies for probing impurities and defects.

Research Organization:
Vanderbilt Univ., Nashville, TN (United States); Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
Grant/Contract Number:
FG02-09ER46554; AC05-00OR22725; AC02-05CH11231
OSTI ID:
1597791
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1330483; OSTI ID: 1355872
Journal Information:
Physical Review B, Vol. 94, Issue 15; ISSN 2469-9950
Publisher:
American Physical Society (APS)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 8 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (5)

Material structure, properties, and dynamics through scanning transmission electron microscopy journal April 2018
Substitutional Si impurities in monolayer hexagonal boron nitride journal August 2019
Atomic‐Scale Spectroscopic Imaging of the Extreme‐UV Optical Response of B‐ and N‐Doped Graphene journal May 2019
Substitutional Si impurities in monolayer hexagonal boron nitride text January 2019
Materials Structure, Properties and Dynamics through Scanning Transmission Electron Microscopy text January 2019

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