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Non-Stoichiometry at Tilt Grain Boundaries in SrTiO3

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 July 2020

G. Duscher
Affiliation:
Vanderbilt University, Department of Physics & Astronomy, Nashville, TN Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Solid State Division, Oak Ridge, TN
M. Kim
Affiliation:
Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Solid State Division, Oak Ridge, TN University of Illinois at Chicago, Physics Department, Chicago, IL
N. D. Browning
Affiliation:
University of Illinois at Chicago, Physics Department, Chicago, IL
S. T. Pantelides
Affiliation:
Vanderbilt University, Department of Physics & Astronomy, Nashville, TN
S. J. Pennycook
Affiliation:
Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Solid State Division, Oak Ridge, TN
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Extract

The origin of electrically active grain boundaries in perovskite oxides and related materials remains controversial. The stoichiometry of the grain boundary core structure and the role of oxygen vacancies are the key issues involved. Previous results have given no indications of any non-stoichiometry at SrTiO3 grain boundaries, despite the fact that SrTiO3 is the system where atomic column EELS resolution has been demonstrated [1], and where atomic resolution images of the core structures have been obtained by Z-contrast imaging [2,3]. Here we show EELS spectra from individual dislocation cores in an 8° [100] tilt grain boundary in SrTiO3 that show significant oxygen depletion.

The low angle grain boundary with well-separated dislocation cores makes it possible to study individual cores with high energy resolution in EELS. Previous work either averaged over all structural units in the grain boundary, sacrificing spatial resolution [2,3], or, used a very low probe current to obtain the highest spatial resolution [1].

Type
The Theory and Practice of Scanning Transmission Electron Microscopy
Copyright
Copyright © Microscopy Society of America

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References

[1]Duscher, G., Browning, N.D. and Pennycook, S.J., phys. stat. sol. a 166 (1998) 327.3.0.CO;2-R>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[2]McGibbon, M.M., et al. Science 266 (1994) 102.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
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[4]Duscher, G., Buban, J.P., Browning, N.D., Chisholm, M.F., and S.J. Pennycook, Interface Science, in press.Google Scholar
[5]Mo, S.-D.Ching, W.Y., Chisholm, M.F., and Duscher, G., Phys. Rev. B 60 (1999) 2416.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[6]Kim, M., Duscher, G., Pennycook, S.J. and Pantelides, S.T., this proceedings.Google Scholar
[7] This work was supported in part by the DOE-BES grant DE-AC05-96OR22464 and in part by NSF grants DMR 9803768 and DMR 9803021. We thank B. Holzapfel, IFW Dresden for providing the bicrystal.Google Scholar