Enhanced compositional contrast in imaging of nanoprecipitates buried in a defective crystal using a conventional TEM.
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.
Kaiser
Ute
U
Institut für Festkörperphysik, Friedrich-Schiller Universität, Jena 07743, Germany. kaiser@pinet.uni-jena.de
Chuvilin
Andrey
A
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
D017554:Carbon Compounds, Inorganic; D017655:Silicon Compounds; C022088:silicon carbide