Aberration Corrected STEM and EELS

Abstract

The ultimate aim of an analytical technique applied to a solid material could be stated as the identification and mapping of the constituent atoms and their bonding in three dimensions. Hitherto, this was almost always achieved by diffraction methods averaging over many identical structures and, where it can be used, this remains the most powerful approach. However, the need to characterise the atomic positions in non-periodic structures is being driven by our ability and need to engineer and understand complex non-periodic structures at this scale. Engineered structures where this is relevant range from semiconductor interfaces, dopants and defects through atoms segregated to grain boundaries in structural materials to the detailed morphology and atomic distribution in catalyst nanoparticles.