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Determining On-Axis Crystal Thickness with Quantitative Position-Averaged Incoherent Bright-Field Signal in an Aberration-Corrected STEM

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 May 2012

Huolin L. Xin ,
Ye Zhu  and
David A. Muller
Huolin L. Xin*
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA
Ye Zhu
Affiliation:
School of Applied and Engineering Physics, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA
David A. Muller
Affiliation:
School of Applied and Engineering Physics, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA Kavli Institute at Cornell for Nanoscale Science, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA
*
Corresponding author. E-mail: hx35@cornell.edu
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Abstract

An accurate determination of specimen thickness is essential for quantitative analytical electron microscopy. Here we demonstrate that a position-averaged incoherent bright-field signal recorded on an absolute scale can be used to determine the thickness of on-axis crystals with a precision of ±1.6 nm. This method measures both the crystalline and the noncrystalline parts (surface amorphous layers) of the sample. However, it avoids the systematic error resulting from surface plasmon contributions to the inelastic mean-free-path thickness estimated by electron energy loss spectroscopy.

Keywords

incoherent bright-field signalSTEMthickness determinationquantitative microscopyposition averaging
Type
Special Section: Aberration-Corrected Electron Microscopy
Information
Microscopy and Microanalysis , Volume 18 , Issue 4 , August 2012 , pp. 720 - 727
Copyright
Copyright © Microscopy Society of America 2012

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