In solving complex inorganic structures, often the greatest challenge is to obtain good initial atom positions for Rietveld refinement using x-ray diffraction intensities. In this work, a technique is presented which combines direct phasing with HRTEM and exploits dynamical diffraction effects to obtain an image of oxygen atoms. The technique was used in the structure determination of a monoclinic (Ga0.7In0.3)2SnO5 phase to provide accurate first-guess positions for oxygen atoms for subesquent Rietveld refinement.

The solution of the cation positions of the structure relied on HRTEM images. The image in Fig. 1, taken along the crystal’s short b-axis, has a defocus of approximately -50 nm based on the locations of minima in a weak amorphous component in the power spectra of the through-focus image series. Because this is near Scherzer defocus, one expects dark areas of the image to correspond a large projected potential (making the weak phase object approximation). This was used to get successful initial cation positions for a Rietveld refinement of powder x-ray diffraction data. The final refined structure is shown in Fig. 2, including the oxygen positions.