title: Atomic-scale chemical imaging of composition and bonding by aberration-corrected microscopy.
abstract: Using a fifth-order aberration-corrected scanning transmission electron microscope, which provides a factor of 100 increase in signal over an uncorrected instrument, we demonstrated two-dimensional elemental and valence-sensitive imaging at atomic resolution by means of electron energy-loss spectroscopy, with acquisition times of well under a minute (for a 4096-pixel image). Applying this method to the study of a La(0.7)Sr(0.3)MnO3/SrTiO3 multilayer, we found an asymmetry between the chemical intermixing on the manganese-titanium and lanthanum-strontium sublattices. The measured changes in the titanium bonding as the local environment changed allowed us to distinguish chemical interdiffusion from imaging artifacts.
authors.affiliation: Applied and Engineering Physics, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA. dm24@cornell.edu
authors.forename: D A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Muller
authors.forename: L Fitting
authors.initials: LF
authors.lastname: Kourkoutis
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Murfitt
authors.forename: J H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Song
authors.forename: H Y
authors.initials: HY
authors.lastname: Hwang
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Silcox
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Dellby
authors.forename: O L
authors.initials: OL
authors.lastname: Krivanek