Electron Diffraction Based Analysis of Phase Fractions and Texture in Nanocrystalline Thin Films, Part II: Implementation

Abstract

This series of articles describes a method that performs (semi)quantitative phase analysis for nanocrystalline transmission electron microscope samples from selected area electron diffraction (SAED) patterns. Volume fractions of phases and their textures are obtained separately in the method. First, the two-dimensional SAED pattern is converted into an X-ray diffraction-like one-dimensional distribution. Volume fractions of the nanocrystalline components are determined by fitting the spectral components, calculated for the previously identified phases with a priori known structures. Blackman correction is also applied to take into account dynamic effects for medium grain sizes. Peak shapes and experimental parameters (camera length, etc.) are refined during the fitting iterations. Parameter space is explored with the help of the Downhill-SIMPLEX algorithm. Part I presented the principles, while Part II now elaborates current implementation, and Part III will demonstrate its usage by examples. The method is implemented in a computer program that runs under the Windows operating system on IBM PC compatible machines.

Characterization of nanograined powder samples using the Rietveld method applied to electron diffraction ring patterns

“…SAED patterns and TEM micrographs, both DF and BF images, were acquired. For the identification of the phases and indexing of the relevant peaks, Process Diffraction software was used (Lábár, 2008(Lábár, , 2009Lábár et al, 2012). Image analysis of TEM DF micrographs were performed using the ImageJ software (Schneider et al, 2012), quite useful to estimate dimension and shape of coherent scattering domains and relevant statistical distributions.…”

Ion mass spectrometry investigations of the discharge during reactive high power pulsed and direct current magnetron sputtering of carbon in Ar and Ar/N2

“…The diffraction patterns were processed with process diffraction software. 39 The degree of structuring (fullerene-like, graphitic or plain amorphous) was assessed in evaluating peak intensities (int) of the ring $3.5 Å and the $2 Å ring, extracted from the SAED pattern. Setting both intensities into relation (int(3.5 Å )/int(2 Å )) depicts the degree of structure; the higher the value, the higher is the degree of graphitic short range ordering.…”

Layered zinc hydroxide salts: Delamination, preferred orientation of hydroxide lamellae, and formation of ZnO nanodiscs

“…It is equipped with an energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) microanalysis system Oxford Instruments INCA. Electron diffraction patterns were evaluated using the Process Diffraction software package [44]. Surface imaging was performed by an atomic force microscope (AFM) Nanoscope IIIa Multimode (Veeco, USA) in the semicontact (tapping) mode using Si cantilevers (OTESPA) with $300 kHz resonant frequency to minimize tip-surface interaction and avoid surface alteration upon scanning.…”