When the scientists took
scanning transmission electron microscopy measurements of the artificially engineered lead titanate/strontium titanate superlattice, they saw something strange that had nothing to do with heat: Bubble-like formations had cropped up all across the material.
Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and
scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) combined with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDXS) were performed to determine the thickness and composition of the ITO layers.
ORNL's
scanning transmission electron microscopy and atom probe tomography allow researchers to identify and examine the location and chemistry of each atom in the alloy matrix, precipitates and the interfaces between them.
Scanning Transmission Electron Microscopy of Nanomaterials: Basics of Imaging and Analysis
STEM stands for
Scanning Transmission Electron Microscopy, a microscopy modality in which a sample is raster scanned by an electron beam and electrons transmitted through the sample are detected.
The researchers used
scanning transmission electron microscopy and various spectroscopic methods to analyze the particles and observe how they change when their aging is accelerated with UV light.
Zhu, "Scanning moire fringe imaging by
scanning transmission electron microscopy," Ultramicroscopy, vol.
Although
scanning transmission electron microscopy has been around for years, detailed imaging of atoms was previously impossible "due to defects that all lenses suffer from," said the lab.
"[T]here are different technologies, such as
scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM), where you can achieve resolution of less than one nanometer, so for a lot of applications and samples, you don't have to go for TEM," says Jens Greiser, strategic marketing manager at FEI.
One impressive pairing brings together
scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) and electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS).