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The ion-sputtering induced intermixing is studied by Monte-Carlo TRIM, molecular dynamics (MD) simulations, and Auger electron spectroscopy depth profiling (AES-DP) analysis in Pt/Ti/Si substrate (Pt/Ti) and Ta/Ti/Pt/Si substrate (Ti/Pt) multilayers. Experimental evidence is found for the asymmetry of intermixing in Pt/Ti, and in Ti/Pt. In Ti/Pt we get a much weaker interdiffusion than in Pt/Ti. The unexpected enhancement of the interdiffusion of the Pt atoms into the Ti substrate has also been demonstrated by simulations. We are able to capture the essential features of intermixing using TRIM and MD simulations for ion-beam sputtering and get reasonable values for interface broadening which can be compared with the experimental measurements. However, the origin of the asymmetry remains poorly understood yet.

The physical processes occurring in the presence of disorder: point defects, grain boundaries, etc. may have detrimental effects on the electronic properties of graphene. Here we present an approach to reveal the grain structure of graphene by the selective oxidation of defects and subsequent atomic force microscopy analysis. This technique offers a quick and easy alternative to different electron microscopy and diffraction methods and may be used to give quick feedback on the quality of graphene samples grown by chemical vapor deposition.

A method for phase analysis, similar to the Rietveld method in X-ray diffraction, was not developed for electron diffraction (ED) in the transmission electron microscope (TEM), mainly due to the dynamic nature of ED. Nowadays, TEM laboratories encounter many thin samples with grain size in the 1–30 nm range, not too far from the kinematic ED conditions. This article describes a method that performs (semi)quantitative phase analysis for nanocrystalline samples from selected area electron diffraction (SAED) patterns. Fractions of the different nanocrystalline components are determined from rotationally symmetric ring patters. Both randomly oriented nanopowders and textured nanopowders, observed from the direction of the texture axis produce such SAED patterns. The textured fraction is determined as a separate component by fitting the spectral components, calculated for the previously identified phases with a priori known structures, to the measured distribution. The Blackman correction is applied to the set of kinematic diffraction lines to take into account dynamic effects for medium grain size. Parameters of the peak shapes and the other experimental parameters are refined by exploring the parameter space with the help of the Downhill-SIMPLEX. Part I presents the principles, while future publication of Parts II and III will elaborate on current implementation and will demonstrate its usage by examples, respectively.

An equiatomic CoCrFeMnNi High-Entropy Alloy (HEA) produced by arc melting was processed by High-Pressure Torsion (HPT). The evolution of the microstructure during HPT was investigated after ¼, ½, 1 and 2 turns using electron backscatter diffraction and transmission electron microscopy. The spatial distribution of constituents was studied by energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. The dislocation density and the twin-fault probability in the HPT-processed samples were determined by X-ray line profiles analysis. It was found that the grain size was gradually refined from ~60 µm to ~30 nm while the dislocation density and the twin-fault probability increased to very high values of about 194 × 10 14 m −2 and 2.7%, respectively, at the periphery of the disk processed for 2 turns. The hardness evolution was measured as a function of the distance from the center of the HPT-processed disks. After 2 turns of HPT, the microhardness increased from ~1440 MPa to ~5380 MPa at the disk periphery where the highest straining is achieved. The yield strength was estimated as onethird of the hardness and correlated to the microstructure.