Atomic-Resolution Topographic Imaging of Crystal Surfaces

ACS Nano ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ryo Ishikawa ◽  
Riku Tanaka ◽  
Kazuaki Kawahara ◽  
Naoya Shibata ◽  
Yuichi Ikuhara
Keyword(s):  
Atomic Resolution ◽  
Crystal Surfaces ◽  
Topographic Imaging

High-Resolution Topographic Imaging of Enamel Crystal Surfaces

1988 ◽  
Vol 46 ◽  
pp. 188-189
Author(s):  
R.P. Apkarian ◽  
M.D. Gutekunst
Keyword(s):  
Crystal Surface ◽  
Crystal Surfaces ◽  
Human Teeth ◽  
Enamel Structure ◽  
Enamel Crystal ◽  
Signal Contrast ◽  
Normal Human ◽  
Cr Film ◽  
Topographic Imaging ◽  
Preparation Techniques

Previous interpretations of enamel crystal morphology have been handicapped by preparation techniques and the understanding of enamel crystals was derived from TEM and conventional SEM studies looking into lesion formation in enamel. Early studies focused on the demineralization and effects of mineralization on enamel structure. Enamel crystals were previously described as flattened hexagonal structures 100 μm long and 35-40 nm in diameter using conventional SEM and 47.3 nm in diameter using TEM. A methodology has been developed and employed in order to accurately image hydroxyapatite crystals in normal human teeth. The combination of an ultrathin coating of sputtered chromium (Cr) film and SE-I imaging herein provide topographic contrasts of crystal surfaces. Since the majority of the SE-I information should be produced close to the surface, the resultant image is specimen surface specific. Optimal metal coating thicknesses of low atomic number were utilized so that the generation of the SE-I signal contrast which occurs on the enamel crystal surface was used to form the image, thus avoiding image contrast contribution by electrons scattered in the metal coat.

Electron-Mirror Microscopic Aspects of Ferroelectric Domains of BaTiO3 And Ca2Sr (C2H5CO2)6

1970 ◽  
Vol 28 ◽  
pp. 478-479
Author(s):  
Teruo Someya ◽  
Jinzo Kobayashi
Keyword(s):  
Surface Layer ◽  
Electric Fields ◽  
Quantitative Study ◽  
Recent Progress ◽  
Ferroelectric Domain ◽  
Resolving Power ◽  
Surface Pattern ◽  
Crystal Surfaces ◽  
One Dimensional ◽  
Ferroelectric Domains

Recent progress in the electron-mirror microscopy (EMM), e.g., an improvement of its resolving power together with an increase of the magnification makes it useful for investigating the ferroelectric domain physics. English has recently observed the domain texture in the surface layer of BaTiO3. The present authors ) have developed a theory by which one can evaluate small one-dimensional electric fields and/or topographic step heights in the crystal surfaces from their EMM pictures. This theory was applied to a quantitative study of the surface pattern of BaTiO3).

Effect of strain on ADF-STEM high-resolution images

1991 ◽  
Vol 49 ◽  
pp. 666-667
Author(s):  
M. Kelly ◽  
D.M. Bird
Keyword(s):  
High Resolution ◽  
Strong Influence ◽  
Intensity Variation ◽  
Dark Field ◽  
Atomic Resolution ◽  
Strain Fields ◽  
High Resolution Image ◽  
Annular Dark Field ◽  
High Resolution Images ◽  
Interesting Alternative

It is well known that strain fields can have a strong influence on the details of HREM images. This, for example, can cause problems in the analysis of edge-on interfaces between lattice mismatched materials. An interesting alternative to conventional HREM imaging has recently been advanced by Pennycook and co-workers where the intensity variation in the annular dark field (ADF) detector is monitored as a STEM probe is scanned across the specimen. It is believed that the observed atomic-resolution contrast is correlated with the intensity of the STEM probe at the atomic sites and the way in which this varies as the probe moves from cell to cell. As well as providing a directly interpretable high-resolution image, there are reasons for believing that ADF-STEM images may be less suseptible to strain than conventional HREM. This is because HREM images arise from the interference of several diffracted beams, each of which is governed by all the excited Bloch waves in the crystal.

Electron crystallographic determination of the 3-D structure of staurolite at atomic resolution

1991 ◽  
Vol 49 ◽  
pp. 540-541
Author(s):  
Kenneth H. Downing ◽  
Hu Meisheng ◽  
Hans-Rudolf Went ◽  
Michael A. O'Keefe
Keyword(s):  
High Resolution ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
High Resolution Electron Microscopy ◽  
Atomic Resolution ◽  
Dimensional Structure ◽  
Structure Information ◽  
Resolution Electron ◽  
Scattering Effects ◽  
High Resolution Images ◽  
Effects Of Radiation

With current advances in electron microscope design, high resolution electron microscopy has become routine, and point resolutions of better than 2Å have been obtained in images of many inorganic crystals. Although this resolution is sufficient to resolve interatomic spacings, interpretation generally requires comparison of experimental images with calculations. Since the images are two-dimensional representations of projections of the full three-dimensional structure, information is invariably lost in the overlapping images of atoms at various heights. The technique of electron crystallography, in which information from several views of a crystal is combined, has been developed to obtain three-dimensional information on proteins. The resolution in images of proteins is severely limited by effects of radiation damage. In principle, atomic-resolution, 3D reconstructions should be obtainable from specimens that are resistant to damage. The most serious problem would appear to be in obtaining high-resolution images from areas that are thin enough that dynamical scattering effects can be ignored.

In situ REM imaging of surface processes on ceramic bulk crystals from 300 to 1670 K in a conventional TEM

1991 ◽  
Vol 49 ◽  
pp. 660-661
Author(s):  
Z. L. Wang ◽  
J. Bentley
Keyword(s):  
High Temperatures ◽  
Image Resolution ◽  
Atomic Processes ◽  
Crystal Surfaces ◽  
Beam Radiation ◽  
Surface Areas ◽  
Transmission Electron ◽  
Reflection Electron Microscopy ◽  
Gas Reactions

Studying the behavior of surfaces at high temperatures is of great importance for understanding the properties of ceramics and associated surface-gas reactions. Atomic processes occurring on bulk crystal surfaces at high temperatures can be recorded by reflection electron microscopy (REM) in a conventional transmission electron microscope (TEM) with relatively high resolution, because REM is especially sensitive to atomic-height steps.Improved REM image resolution with a FEG: Cleaved surfaces of a-alumina (012) exhibit atomic flatness with steps of height about 5 Å, determined by reference to a screw (or near screw) dislocation with a presumed Burgers vector of b = (1/3)<012> (see Fig. 1). Steps of heights less than about 0.8 Å can be clearly resolved only with a field emission gun (FEG) (Fig. 2). The small steps are formed by the surface oscillating between the closely packed O and Al stacking layers. The bands of dark contrast (Fig. 2b) are the result of beam radiation damage to surface areas initially terminated with O ions.

Various technic for the measurement of step thickness on crystal surfaces

1978 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 438-439
Author(s):  
C. Boulesteix ◽  
C. Colliex ◽  
C. Mory ◽  
B. Pardo ◽  
D. Renard
Keyword(s):  
Critical Thickness ◽  
Symmetric Case ◽  
Transmitted Intensity ◽  
Crystal Surfaces ◽  
Bright Field ◽  
Excited Wave ◽  
Highly Sensitive ◽  
Contrast Mechanisms ◽  
Step Thickness ◽  
Thickness Variations

Contrast mechanisms, which are responsible of the various types of image formation, are generally thickness dependant. In the following, two imaging modes in the 100 kV CTEM are described : they are highly sensitive to thickness variations and can be used for quantitative estimations of step heights.Detailed calculations (1) of the bright-field intensity have been carried out in the 3 (or 2N+l)-beam symmetric case. They show that in given conditions, the two important symmetric Bloch waves interfere most strongly at a critical thickness for which they have equal emergent amplitudes (the more excited wave at the entrance surface is also the more absorbed). The transmitted intensity I for a Nd2O3 specimen has been calculated as a function of thickness t. The capacity of the method to detect a step and measure its height can be more clearly deduced from a plot of dl/Idt as shown in fig. 1.

Scanning tunneling microscopy of E. coli RNA polymerase deposited onto an Au substrate by an electrochemical process

1991 ◽  
Vol 49 ◽  
pp. 378-379
Author(s):  
Rebecca W. Keller ◽  
Carlos Bustamante ◽  
David Bear
Keyword(s):  
Scanning Tunneling Microscope ◽  
Biological Sample ◽  
Substrate Surface ◽  
Electrochemical Process ◽  
Atomic Resolution ◽  
Scanning Tunneling ◽  
Tunneling Microscopy ◽  
Tunneling Microscope ◽  
E Coli ◽  
Preparation Techniques

Under ideal conditions, the Scanning Tunneling Microscope (STM) can create atomic resolution images of different kinds of samples. The STM can also be operated in a variety of non-vacuum environments. Because of its potentially high resolution and flexibility of operation, it is now being applied to image biological systems. Several groups have communicated the imaging of double and single stranded DNA.However, reproducibility is still the main problem with most STM results on biological samples. One source of irreproducibility is unreliable sample preparation techniques. Traditional deposition methods used in electron microscopy, such as glow discharge and spreading techniques, do not appear to work with STM. It seems that these techniques do not fix the biological sample strongly enough to the substrate surface. There is now evidence that there are strong forces between the STM tip and the sample and, unless the sample is strongly bound to the surface, it can be swept aside by the tip.

An atomic resolution study of a carbide phase in platinum

1992 ◽  
Vol 50 (1) ◽  
pp. 20-21
Author(s):  
M.J. Witcomb ◽  
M.A. O'Keefe ◽  
CJ. Echer ◽  
C. Nelson ◽  
J.H. Turner ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Solid Solution ◽  
Carbon Atom ◽  
Carbide Phase ◽  
Structural Changes ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Alloy System ◽  
Atomic Resolution ◽  
Excess Carbon ◽  
Interstitial Carbon ◽  
Resolution Study

Under normal circumstances, Pt dissolves only a very small amount of interstitial carbon in solid solution. Even so, an appropriate quench/age treatment leads to the formation of stable Pt2C {100} plate precipitates. Excess (quenched-in) vacancies play a critical role in the process by accommodating the volume and structural changes that accompany the transformation. This alloy system exhibits other interesting properties. Due to a large vacancy/carbon atom binding energy, Pt can absorb excess carbon at high temperatures in a carburizing atmosphere. In regions rich in carbon and vacancies, another carbide phase, Pt7C which undergoes an order-disorder reaction was formed. The present study of Pt carburized at 1160°C and aged at 515°C shows that other carbides in the PtxC series can be produced.

Surface reactions observed by photoemission electron microscopy (PEEM)

1992 ◽  
Vol 50 (1) ◽  
pp. 286-287
Author(s):  
H.H. Rotermund
Keyword(s):  
Electron Microscopy ◽  
Electron Microscope ◽  
Work Function ◽  
Chemical Reactions ◽  
Reaction Diffusion ◽  
Dynamic Processes ◽  
Clean Surface ◽  
Crystal Surfaces ◽  
Single Crystal Surfaces ◽  
Photoemission Electron

Chemical reactions at a surface will in most cases show a measurable influence on the work function of the clean surface. This change of the work function δφ can be used to image the local distributions of the investigated reaction,.if one of the reacting partners is adsorbed at the surface in form of islands of sufficient size (Δ>0.2μm). These can than be visualized via a photoemission electron microscope (PEEM). Changes of φ as low as 2 meV give already a change in the total intensity of a PEEM picture. To achieve reasonable contrast for an image several 10 meV of δφ are needed. Dynamic processes as surface diffusion of CO or O on single crystal surfaces as well as reaction / diffusion fronts have been observed in real time and space.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document