Ion irradiation-induced foams in antimonide binary alloys: A combination of small energy bandgap with giant surface-to-bulk ratio

Electron energy loss experiments combined with microscopy have proven to be a valuable tool for the exploration of the structure of electronic excitations in materials. These types of excitations, however, are difficult to measure because of their small intensity. In a usual situation, the filament of the microscope is run at a very high temperature in order to present as much intensity as possible at the specimen. This results in a degradation of the ultimate energy resolution of the instrument due to thermal broadening of the electron beam.We report here observations and measurements on a new LaB filament in a microscope-velocity spectrometer system. We have found that, in general, we may retain a good energy resolution with intensities comparable to or greater than those available with the very high temperature tungsten filament. We have also explored the energy distribution of this filament.

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Effets of surfaces on precipitate morphology in irradiated thin foils

Proceedings, annual meeting, Electron Microscopy Society of America ◽

10.1017/s0424820100110416 ◽

1978 ◽

Vol 36 (1) ◽

pp. 654-655

Author(s):

D.I. Potter ◽

A. Taylor

Keyword(s):

Ion Irradiation ◽

Dark Field Image ◽

Thin Foil ◽

Dark Field ◽

Al Alloy ◽

Bright Field Image ◽

Dislocation Loops ◽

Precipitate Morphology ◽

Thin Foils

Thermal aging of Ni-12.8 at. % A1 and Ni-12.7 at. % Si produces spatially homogeneous dispersions of cuboidal γ'-Ni3Al or Ni3Si precipitate particles arrayed in the Ni solid solution. We have used 3.5-MeV 58Ni+ ion irradiation to examine the effect of irradiation during precipitation on precipitate morphology and distribution. The nearness of free surfaces produced unusual morphologies in foils thinned prior to irradiation. These thin-foil effects will be important during in-situ investigations of precipitation in the HVEM. The thin foil results can be interpreted in terms of observations from bulk irradiations which are described first.Figure 1a is a dark field image of the γ' precipitate 5000 Å beneath the surface(∿1200 Å short of peak damage) of the Ni-Al alloy irradiated in bulk form. The inhomogeneous spatial distribution of γ' results from the presence of voids and dislocation loops which can be seen in the bright field image of the same area, Fig. 1b.

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Performance and applications of a field-emission gun TEM/STEM

Proceedings, annual meeting, Electron Microscopy Society of America ◽

10.1017/s0424820100129346 ◽

1992 ◽

Vol 50 (2) ◽

pp. 942-943

Author(s):

Judith M. Brock ◽

Max T. Otten ◽

Marc. J.C. de Jong

Keyword(s):

Field Emission ◽

High Resolution Imaging ◽

High Quality ◽

Small Energy ◽

High Brightness ◽

Small Probe ◽

Resolution Imaging ◽

Convergent Beam ◽

Beam Patterns ◽

Beam Diffraction

A Field Emission Gun (FEG) on a TEM/STEM instrument provides a major improvement in performance relative to one equipped with a LaB6 emitter. The improvement is particularly notable for small-probe techniques: EDX and EELS microanalysis, convergent beam diffraction and scanning. The high brightness of the FEG (108 to 109 A/cm2srad), compared with that of LaB6 (∼106), makes it possible to achieve high probe currents (∼1 nA) in probes of about 1 nm, whilst the currents for similar probes with LaB6 are about 100 to 500x lower. Accordingly the small, high-intensity FEG probes make it possible, e.g., to analyse precipitates and monolayer amounts of segregation on grain boundaries in metals or ceramics (Fig. 1); obtain high-quality convergent beam patterns from heavily dislocated materials; reliably detect 1 nm immuno-gold labels in biological specimens; and perform EDX mapping at nm-scale resolution even in difficult specimens like biological tissue.The high brightness and small energy spread of the FEG also bring an advantage in high-resolution imaging by significantly improving both spatial and temporal coherence.

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Xenon ion irradiation of superconducting YBa2Cu3O7 thin films

Proceedings, annual meeting, Electron Microscopy Society of America ◽

10.1017/s0424820100173595 ◽

1990 ◽

Vol 48 (4) ◽

pp. 92-93

Author(s):

H. Watanabe ◽

B. Kabius ◽

B. Roas ◽

K. Urban

Keyword(s):

Defect Formation ◽

Ion Irradiation ◽

High Resolution Electron Microscopy ◽

Structural Disorder ◽

Flux Lines ◽

Pinning Effect ◽

Magnetic Flux Lines ◽

Resolution Electron ◽

Radiation Induced ◽

Induced Defects

Recently it was reported that the critical current density(Jc) of YBa2Cu2O7, in the presence of magnetic field, is enhanced by ion irradiation. The enhancement is thought to be due to the pinning of the magnetic flux lines by radiation-induced defects or by structural disorder. The aim of the present study was to understand the fundamental mechanisms of the defect formation in association with the pinning effect in YBa2Cu3O7 by means of high-resolution electron microscopy(HRTEM).The YBa2Cu3O7 specimens were prepared by laser ablation in an insitu process. During deposition, a substrate temperature and oxygen atmosphere were kept at about 1073 K and 0.4 mbar, respectively. In this way high quality epitaxially films can be obtained with the caxis parallel to the <100 > SrTiO3 substrate normal. The specimens were irradiated at a temperature of 77 K with 173 MeV Xe ions up to a dose of 3.0 × 1016 m−2.

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Structural relationships in the synthesis of cubic boron nitride thin films by ion-assisted deposition

Proceedings, annual meeting, Electron Microscopy Society of America ◽

10.1017/s042482010017092x ◽

1994 ◽

Vol 52 ◽

pp. 638-639

Author(s):

D. L. Medlin ◽

T. A. Friedmann ◽

P. B. Mirkarimi ◽

M. J. Mills ◽

K. F. McCarty

Keyword(s):

Boron Nitride ◽

Ion Irradiation ◽

Cubic Boron Nitride ◽

Film Stress ◽

Bonded Phases ◽

Structural Relationships ◽

Precursor Material ◽

Pressure Synthesis ◽

Microstructure Of The Material

The allotropes of boron nitride include two sp2-bonded phases with hexagonal and rhombohedral structures (hBN and rBN) and two sp3-bonded phases with cubic (zincblende) and hexagonal (wurtzitic) structures (cBN and wBN) (Fig. 1). Although cBN is synthesized in bulk form by conversion of hBN at high temperatures and pressures, low-pressure synthesis of cBN as a thin film is more difficult and succeeds only when the growing film is simultaneously irradiated with a high flux of ions. Only sp2-bonded material, which generally has a disordered, turbostratic microstructure (tBN), will form in the absence of ion-irradiation. The mechanistic role of the irradiation is not well understood, but recent work suggests that ion-induced compressive film stress may induce the transformation to cBN.Typically, BN films are deposited at temperatures less than 1000°C, a regime for which the structure of the sp2-bonded precursor material dictates the phase and microstructure of the material that forms from conventional (bulk) high pressure treatment.

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Electron and ion irradiation-induced dissolution of mechanical twins in the intermetalic U3Si: An in situ HVEM study

Proceedings, annual meeting, Electron Microscopy Society of America ◽

10.1017/s0424820100155232 ◽

1989 ◽

Vol 47 ◽

pp. 652-653

Author(s):

Charles W. Allen ◽

Robert C. Birtcher

Keyword(s):

Elevated Temperatures ◽

Ion Irradiation ◽

Ion Beam ◽

National Laboratory ◽

Argonne National Laboratory ◽

Heavy Ion ◽

High Energy ◽

Mechanical Twinning ◽

In Situ Experiments

The uranium silicides, including U3Si, are under study as candidate low enrichment nuclear fuels. Ion beam simulations of the in-reactor behavior of such materials are performed because a similar damage structure can be produced in hours by energetic heavy ions which requires years in actual reactor tests. This contribution treats one aspect of the microstructural behavior of U3Si under high energy electron irradiation and low dose energetic heavy ion irradiation and is based on in situ experiments, performed at the HVEM-Tandem User Facility at Argonne National Laboratory. This Facility interfaces a 2 MV Tandem ion accelerator and a 0.6 MV ion implanter to a 1.2 MeV AEI high voltage electron microscope, which allows a wide variety of in situ ion beam experiments to be performed with simultaneous irradiation and electron microscopy or diffraction.At elevated temperatures, U3Si exhibits the ordered AuCu3 structure. On cooling below 1058 K, the intermetallic transforms, evidently martensitically, to a body-centered tetragonal structure (alternatively, the structure may be described as face-centered tetragonal, which would be fcc except for a 1 pet tetragonal distortion). Mechanical twinning accompanies the transformation; however, diferences between electron diffraction patterns from twinned and non-twinned martensite plates could not be distinguished.

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Transmission Electron Microscopy characterization of epitaxial III-V semiconductor thin films grown on Si(100) by ion-assisted deposition

Proceedings, annual meeting, Electron Microscopy Society of America ◽

10.1017/s0424820100176563 ◽

1990 ◽

Vol 48 (4) ◽

pp. 686-687

Author(s):

L. Hultman ◽

C.-H. Choi ◽

R. Kaspi ◽

R. Ai ◽

S.A. Barnett

Keyword(s):

Electron Microscopy ◽

Transmission Electron Microscopy ◽

Ion Irradiation ◽

High Energy ◽

Nucleation Mechanism ◽

Layer By Layer ◽

Extended Defect ◽

Island Formation ◽

Si Substrates ◽

Transmission Electron

III-V semiconductor films nucleate by the Stranski-Krastanov (SK) mechanism on Si substrates. Many of the extended defects present in the films are believed to result from the island formation and coalescence stage of SK growth. We have recently shown that low (-30 eV) energy, high flux (4 ions per deposited atom), Ar ion irradiation during nucleation of III-V semiconductors on Si substrates prolongs the 1ayer-by-layer stage of SK nucleation, leading to a decrease in extended defect densities. Furthermore, the epitaxial temperature was reduced by >100°C due to ion irradiation. The effect of ion bombardment on the nucleation mechanism was explained as being due to ion-induced dissociation of three-dimensional islands and ion-enhanced surface diffusion.For the case of InAs grown at 380°C on Si(100) (11% lattice mismatch), where island formation is expected after ≤ 1 monolayer (ML) during molecular beam epitaxy (MBE), in-situ reflection high-energy electron diffraction (RHEED) showed that 28 eV Ar ion irradiation prolonged the layer-by-layer stage of SK nucleation up to 10 ML. Otherion energies maintained layer-by-layer growth to lesser thicknesses. The ion-induced change in nucleation mechanism resulted in smoother surfaces and improved the crystalline perfection of thicker films as shown by transmission electron microscopy and X-ray rocking curve studies.

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