title: Enhanced compositional contrast in imaging of nanoprecipitates buried in a defective crystal using a conventional TEM.
abstract: In this article, we show that nanometer-sized precipitates of atomic numbers higher than those of the surrounding crystalline matrix can be clearly revealed in a conventional transmission electron microscope by high-angle, centered dark-field imaging after minimizing the diffraction contrast. The effect is similar to that of Z-contrast STEM, albeit with a spatial resolution limited to 1 nm. Its sensitivity to atomic number differences between precipitates and matrix is about 10, which is demonstrated for precipitates formed after Er, Ge, Cr, and Si ion implantation into SiC.
authors.affiliation: Institut für Festkörperphysik, Friedrich-Schiller Universität, Jena 07743, Germany. kaiser@pinet.uni-jena.de
authors.forename: Ute
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Kaiser
authors.forename: Andrey
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Chuvilin
mesh_terms: D017554:Carbon Compounds, Inorganic / Q000737:chemistry; D011232:Chemical Precipitation; D003460:Crystallization; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008854:Microscopy, Electron / Q000379:methods*; D036103:Nanotechnology; D017655:Silicon Compounds / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D017554:Carbon Compounds, Inorganic; D017655:Silicon Compounds; C022088:silicon carbide