title: Electron-beam-induced-current and active secondary-electron voltage-contrast with aberration-corrected electron probes.
abstract: The ability to map out electrostatic potentials in materials is critical for the development and the design of nanoscale electronic and spintronic devices in modern industry. Electron holography has been an important tool for revealing electric and magnetic field distributions in microelectronics and magnetic-based memory devices, however, its utility is hindered by several practical constraints, such as charging artifacts and limitations in sensitivity and in field of view. In this article, we report electron-beam-induced-current (EBIC) and secondary-electron voltage-contrast (SE-VC) with an aberration-corrected electron probe in a transmission electron microscope (TEM), as complementary techniques to electron holography, to measure electric fields and surface potentials, respectively. These two techniques were applied to ferroelectric thin films, multiferroic nanowires, and single crystals. Electrostatic potential maps obtained by off-axis electron holography were compared with EBIC and SE-VC to show that these techniques can be used as a complementary approach to validate quantitative results obtained from electron holography analysis.
authors.affiliation: Condensed Matter Physics & Materials Science, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, NY 11973, USA. Electronic address: mghan@bnl.gov.
authors.forename: Myung-Geun
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Han
authors.affiliation: Condensed Matter Physics & Materials Science, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, NY 11973, USA; Materials Science and Engineering Department, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11794, USA.
authors.forename: Joseph A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Garlow
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11974, USA.
authors.forename: Matthew S J
authors.initials: MSJ
authors.lastname: Marshall
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11974, USA.
authors.forename: Amanda L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Tiano
authors.affiliation: Condensed Matter Physics & Materials Science, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, NY 11973, USA; Department of Chemistry, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11974, USA.
authors.forename: Stanislaus S
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Wong
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Astronomy, Rutgers Center for Emergent Materials, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ 08854, USA.
authors.forename: Sang-Wook
authors.initials: SW
authors.lastname: Cheong
authors.affiliation: Department of Applied Physics and Center for Research on Interface Structures and Phenomena, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520, USA; Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520, USA.
authors.forename: Frederick J
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: Walker
authors.affiliation: Department of Applied Physics and Center for Research on Interface Structures and Phenomena, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520, USA; Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520, USA.
authors.forename: Charles H
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Ahn
authors.affiliation: Condensed Matter Physics & Materials Science, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, NY 11973, USA.
authors.forename: Yimei
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhu
keywords: Electric biasing; Electron holography; Electrostatic potential; Ferroelectric