Basic questions related to electron-induced sputtering in the TEM

Egerton, R.F.; McLeod, Robert A.; Wang, F.; Malac, Marek

doi:10.1016/j.ultramic.2009.11.003

Cited by 236 publications

(213 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…The former is caused by displacement of atoms in the sample by momentum transfer from fast primary electrons to atoms in the sample. Usually, this can be minimized by lowering the energy of the electron beam (Egerton et al, 2010;Smith and Luzzi, 2001). Radiolysis is caused by fast electrons modifying the chemical bonds in the sample, leading to changes.…”

Section: Ionization Of Gas Moleculesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring the environmental transmission electron microscope

Wagner

Cavalca

Damsgaard

et al. 2012

Micron

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a b s t r a c tThe increasing interest and development in the field of in situ techniques have now reached a level where the idea of performing measurements under near realistic conditions has become feasible for transmission electron microscopy (TEM) while maintaining high spatial resolution.In this paper, some of the opportunities that the environmental TEM (ETEM) offers when combined with other in situ techniques will be explored, directly in the microscope, by combining electron-based and photon-based techniques and phenomena. In addition, application of adjacent setups using sophisticated transfer methods for transferring the specimen between specialized in situ equipment without compromising the concept of in situ measurements will be exploited. The opportunities and techniques are illustrated by studies of materials systems of Au/MgO and Cu 2 O in different gaseous environments.

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Section: Ionization Of Gas Moleculesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring the environmental transmission electron microscope

Wagner

Cavalca

Damsgaard

et al. 2012

Micron

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“…This could occur when the hydrocarbon contamination rate exceeds the rate of sputtering or mass loss such that contamination build up on the specimen surface provides a coating that inhibits further mass loss (Egerton et al, 2010). EDX linescans were therefore recorded at a fluence rate below this transition threshold (using electron probe 4, Table 1).…”

Section: Identifying and Avoiding Electron Beam Damage In The Stemmentioning

confidence: 99%

Investigating the role of microbes in mineral weathering: Nanometre-scale characterisation of the cell–mineral interface using FIB and TEM

Ward

Kapitulčinová

Brown

et al. 2013

Micron

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Focused ion beam (FIB) sample preparation in combination with subsequent transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analysis are powerful tools for nanometre-scale examination of the cell-mineral interface in bio-geological samples. In this study, we used FIB-TEM to investigate the interaction between a cyanobacterium (Hassallia byssoidea) and a common sheet silicate mineral (biotite) following a laboratory-based bioweathering, incubation experiment. We discuss the FIB preparation of cross-sections of the cell mineral interface for TEM investigation. We also establish an electron fluence threshold in biotite for the transition from scanning (S)TEM electron beam induced contamination build up on the surface of biotite thin sections to mass loss, or hole-drilling within the sections. Working below this threshold fluence nanometre-scale structural and elemental information has been obtained from biotite directly underneath cyanobacterial cells incubated on the biotite for three months. No physical alteration of the biotite was detected by TEM imaging and diffraction with little or no elemental alteration detected by STEM energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) elemental line scanning nor by energy filtered TEM (EF-TEM) jump ratio elemental mapping. As such we present evidence that the cyanobacterial strain of Hassallia byssoidea did not cause any measurable alteration of biotite, within the resolution limits of the analysis techniques used, after three months of incubation on its surface.

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“…From the study of electron and ion beam-induced damage in graphene-based materials, it is known there is a minimum recoil energy required to remove an atom from the interior of the lattice, called the displacement energy E d (9)(10)(11). This threshold entails a minimum kinetic energy for the incident particle to displace an interior atom.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This threshold entails a minimum kinetic energy for the incident particle to displace an interior atom. There is some controversy over the precise displacement energy for an atom in a graphene lattice (10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15), but experiments have clearly shown that 60 and 80 keV electrons are below this threshold (16,17). Topological defects that do not involve carbon atom removal may also be transiently induced in graphene (18).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Atom-by-atom nucleation and growth of graphene nanopores

Russo

Golovchenko

2012

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

260

211

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Graphene is an ideal thin membrane substrate for creating molecule-scale devices. Here we demonstrate a scalable method for creating extremely small structures in graphene with atomic precision. It consists of inducing defect nucleation centers with energetic ions, followed by edge-selective electron recoil sputtering. As a first application, we create graphene nanopores with radii as small as 3 Å, which corresponds to 10 atoms removed. We observe carbon atom removal from the nanopore edge in situ using an aberration-corrected electron microscope, measure the crosssection for the process, and obtain a mean edge atom displacement energy of 14.1 AE 0.1 eV. This approach does not require focused beams and allows scalable production of single nanopores and arrays of monodisperse nanopores for atomic-scale selectively permeable membranes.ion beam irradiation | atomic displacement | electron microscopy F abricating device structures with the precision of single atoms has long been a goal of nanoscale science (1). The recent advent of graphene (2, 3) provides an ideal thin membrane substrate to achieve this goal. Solid-state nanopore devices in thin membranes are of particular interest because they allow the localization, detection, and characterization of single DNA or protein molecules (4, 5). Nanopores in graphene extend this capability to transelectrode sensors and permeable membranes with atomicscale resolution (6). But the development and wide-scale application of such devices is severely limited by the need for atomicscale focused beams for their fabrication (7,8). Here we show how nanopores in graphene can be fabricated with atomic precision without the need for such focused beams.From the study of electron and ion beam-induced damage in graphene-based materials, it is known there is a minimum recoil energy required to remove an atom from the interior of the lattice, called the displacement energy E d (9-11). This threshold entails a minimum kinetic energy for the incident particle to displace an interior atom. There is some controversy over the precise displacement energy for an atom in a graphene lattice (10-15), but experiments have clearly shown that 60 and 80 keV electrons are below this threshold (16,17). Topological defects that do not involve carbon atom removal may also be transiently induced in graphene (18).Recently experiments have also shown that graphene edge atoms can be removed by 80 keV electrons in a transmission electron microscope (TEM) (16). Here we demonstrate that edgeatom removal can be nucleated in the interior of the lattice by low-energy ion beam exposure. We then show that subsequent growth of nanopores in graphene can be effected with atomicscale precision and repeatability with unfocused, subthreshold electron beams. ResultsWe started with suspended graphene (Fig. 1A) grown by chemical vapor deposition on annealed copper (19), which was then transferred to holey carbon TEM grids. We created pore nucleation sites with an argon ion beam ( Fig. 1 B and C) by cooling the sample to 148 ...

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Basic questions related to electron-induced sputtering in the TEM

Cited by 236 publications

References 26 publications

Exploring the environmental transmission electron microscope

Exploring the environmental transmission electron microscope

Investigating the role of microbes in mineral weathering: Nanometre-scale characterisation of the cell–mineral interface using FIB and TEM

Atom-by-atom nucleation and growth of graphene nanopores

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