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Title: Cathodoluminescence for the 21st century: Learning more from light

Journal Article · · Applied Physics Reviews
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4985767· OSTI ID:1398755

Cathodoluminescence (CL) is the emission of light from a material in response to excitation by incident electrons. The technique has had significant impact in the characterization of semiconductors, minerals, ceramics, and many nanostructured materials. Since 2010, there have been a number of innovative developments that have revolutionized and expanded the information that can be gained from CL and broadened the areas of application. While the primary historical application of CL was for spatial mapping of luminescence variations (e.g., imaging dark line defects in semiconductor lasers or providing high resolution imaging of compositional variations in geological materials), new ways to collect and analyze the emitted light have expanded the science impact of CL, particularly at the intersection of materials science and nanotechnology. Current developments include (1) angular and polarized CL, (2) advances in time resolved CL, (3) far-field and near-field transport imaging that enable drift and diffusion information to be obtained through real space imaging, (4) increasing use of statistical analyses for the study of grain boundaries and interfaces, (5) 3D CL including tomography and combined work utilizing dual beam systems with CL, and (6) combined STEM/CL measurements that are reaching new levels of resolution and advancing single photon spectroscopy. This focused review will first summarize the fundamentals and then briefly describe the state-of-the-art in conventional CL imaging and spectroscopy. We also review these recent novel experimental approaches that enable added insight and information, providing a range of examples from nanophotonics, photovoltaics, plasmonics, and studies of individual defects and grain boundaries.

Research Organization:
National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Renewable Power Office. Solar Energy Technologies Office
Grant/Contract Number:
AC36-08GO28308
OSTI ID:
1398755
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1380054
Report Number(s):
NREL/JA-5K00-68617
Journal Information:
Applied Physics Reviews, Vol. 4, Issue 3; ISSN 1931-9401
Publisher:
American Institute of Physics (AIP)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 52 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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  • Gschrey, Manuel; Schmidt, Ronny; Schulze, Jan-Hindrik
  • Journal of Vacuum Science & Technology B, Nanotechnology and Microelectronics: Materials, Processing, Measurement, and Phenomena, Vol. 33, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1116/1.4914914
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Cited By (11)

Doping homogeneity in co-doped materials investigated at different length scales journal January 2020
Tunable plasmonic HfN nanoparticles and arrays journal January 2019
Light-emitting metasurfaces journal July 2019
A Programmable Nanofabrication Method for Complex 3D Meta-Atom Array Based on Focused-Ion-Beam Stress-Induced Deformation Effect journal January 2020
Cathodoluminescence as a probe of the optical properties of resonant apertures in a metallic film journal January 2018
ColorEM: analytical electron microscopy for element-guided identification and imaging of the building blocks of life journal August 2018
Electron-beam spectroscopy for nanophotonics journal July 2019
Electron Beam Spectroscopy for Nanophotonics text January 2019
Nanoscale Relative Emission Efficiency Mapping Using Cathodoluminescence g(2) Imaging journal March 2018
Spatial Resolution of Coherent Cathodoluminescence Super-Resolution Microscopy journal February 2019
Carrier diffusion in GaN -- a cathodoluminescence study. I: Temperature-dependent generation volume text January 2020

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