Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dk4vv Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T00:44:56.739Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Quantitative Strain Mapping Applied to Aberration-Corrected HAADF Images

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 July 2006

Ana M. Sanchez ,
Pedro L. Galindo ,
Slawomir Kret ,
Meiken Falke ,
Richard Beanland  and
Peter J. Goodhew
Ana M. Sanchez
Affiliation:
Departamento de Ciencia de los Materiales e I. M. y Q.I., Universidad de Cadiz, Puerto Real 11510, Spain
Pedro L. Galindo
Affiliation:
Departamento de Lenguajes y Sistemas Informaticos, Universidad de Cadiz, Puerto Real 11510, Spain
Slawomir Kret
Affiliation:
Institute of Physics, Polish Academy of Science, Al. Lotnikow 32/46. PL-020668 Warzawa, Poland
Meiken Falke
Affiliation:
UK SuperSTEM, Daresbury Laboratory, Daresbury WA4 4AD, United Kingdom
Richard Beanland
Affiliation:
Bookham Technology, Caswell, Towcester, Northants NN12 8EQ, United Kingdom
Peter J. Goodhew
Affiliation:
Department of Engineering, University of Liverpool, Liverpool L69 3GH, United Kingdom
Get access

Abstract

A systematic distortion in high-angle annular dark-field scanning transmission electron microscope (HAADF-STEM) images, which may be caused by residual electrical interference, has been evaluated. Strain mapping, using the geometric phase methodology, has been applied to images acquired in an aberration-corrected STEM. This allows this distortion to be removed and so quantitative analysis of HAADF-STEM images was enabled. The distortion is quantified by applying this technique to structurally perfect and strain-free material. As an example, the correction is used to analyse an InAs/GaAs dot-in-quantum well heterostructure grown by molecular beam epitaxy. The result is a quantitative measure of internal strain on an atomic scale. The measured internal strain field of the heterostructure can be interpreted as being due to variations of indium concentration in the quantum dot.

Keywords

HAADFSTEMdistortionnanostructuresalgorithmstrainInAs
Type
MATERIALS APPLICATIONS
Information
Microscopy and Microanalysis , Volume 12 , Issue 4 , August 2006 , pp. 285 - 294
Copyright
© 2006 Microscopy Society of America

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Beanland, R. (2003). Rapid cross-section TEM specimen preparation of III-V materials. Microsc Today 11, 29–31.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bierwolf, R., Hohenstein, M., Phillipp, F., Brandt, O., Crook, G.E., & Ploog, K. (1993). Direct measurement of local lattice-distortions in strained layer structures by HREM. Ultramicroscopy 49, 273–285.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bithell, E.G. & Stobbs, W.M. (1989). Composition determination in the GaAs/(Al, Ga)As system using contrast in dark-field transmission electron-microscope images. Philos Mag A 60, 39–62.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bithell, E.G. & Stobbs, W.M. (1991). III-V ternary semiconductor heterostructures—The choice of an appropriate compositional analysis technique. J Appl Phys 69, 2149–2155.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Galindo, P.L., Yañez, A., Pizarro, J., Guerrero, E., Ben, T., & Molina, S.I. (2006). Strain mapping from HRTEM images. In Proceedings of the Microscopy of Semiconducting Materials XIV Conference. Oxford: Institute of Physics (in press).Google Scholar
Hÿtch, M.J. & Plamann, T. (2001). Imaging conditions for reliable measurement of displacement and strain in high-resolution electron microscopy. Ultramicroscopy 87, 199–212.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hÿtch, M.J., Snoeck, E., & Kilaas, R. (1998). Quantitative measurement of displacement and strain fields from HREM micrographs. Ultramicroscopy 74, 131–146.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kret, S., Ruterana, P., Rosenauer, A., & Gerthsen, D. (2001). Extracting quantitative information from high resolution electron microscopy. Phys Stat Sol B 227, 247–295.3.0.CO;2-F>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Krivanek, O.L., Dellby, N., & Lupini, A.R. (1999). Towards sub-angstrom electron beams. Ultramicroscopy 78, 1–11.Google Scholar
Rosenauer, A. (2003). Transmission Electron Microscopy of Semiconductor Nanostructures. An Analysis of Composition and Strain State. Berlin: Springer.Google Scholar
Rosenauer, A., Remmele, T., Gerthsen, D., Tillmann, K., & Förster, A. (1997). Atomic scale strain measurements by the digital analysis of transmission electron microscopic lattice images. Optik 105, 99–107.Google Scholar
Ruterana, R., Kret, S., Maciejewski, G., & Dluzewski, P. (2002). Composition fluctuation in InGaN quantum wells made from molecular beam or metalorganic vapor phase epitaxial layers. J Appl Phys 91, 8979–8985.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sanchez, A.M., Galindo, P.L., Kret, S., Falke, M., Beanland, R., & Goodhew, P.J. (2006). An approach to the systematic distortion correction in aberration corrected HAADF images. J Microsc 221, 1–7.Google Scholar