Atom location using scanning transmission electron microscopy based on electron energy loss spectroscopy

Full text: The technique of atom location by channelling enhanced microanalysis (ALCHEMI) using cross section data, measured as a function of electron beam orientation, has been widely implemented by many researchers. The accurate application of ALCHEMI, usually based on energy dispersive x-ray analysis (EDX), requires knowledge, from first principles, of the relative delocalization of the inner-shell ionization interaction (see for example Oxley and Allen, 1998; Oxley et al., 1999). Scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) based on electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS) also provides information about the location of atoms of different types within the crystal lattice. Unlike high angle annular dark field (HAADF), EELS provides a unique signal for each atom type. In conjunction with highly focused probes, allowing near atomic resolution, this makes possible, in principle, the application of ALCHEMI like techniques to STEM images to determine the distribution of impurities within the unit cell. The accurate interpretation of STEM results requires that both the inner-shell ionization interaction and resulting ionization cross section or image be correctly modelled. We present model calculations demonstrating the in principle application of ALCHEMI type techniques to STEM images pertinent to EELS. The inner-shell ionisation interaction is modelled using Hartree-Fock wave functions to describe the atomic bound states and Hartree-Slater wave functions to describe the continuum states. The wave function within the crystal is calculated using boundary conditions appropriate for a highly focussed probe (Rossouw and Allen, 2001) and STEM images or ionisation cross sections are simulated using an inelastic cross section formulation that correctly accounts for the contribution from both dynamical electrons and those dechannelled by absorptive scattering processes such as thermal diffuse scattering (TDS). Copyright (2002) Australian Society for Electron Microscopy Inc