Computer Simulation of Inorganic Materials

Author(s):  
R. A. Jackson
Author(s):  
David J. Smith

The era of atomic-resolution electron microscopy has finally arrived. In virtually all inorganic materials, including oxides, metals, semiconductors and ceramics, it is possible to image individual atomic columns in low-index zone-axis projections. A whole host of important materials’ problems involving defects and departures from nonstoichiometry on the atomic scale are waiting to be tackled by the new generation of intermediate voltage (300-400keV) electron microscopes. In this review, some existing problems and limitations associated with imaging inorganic materials are briefly discussed. The more immediate problems encountered with organic and biological materials are considered elsewhere.Microscope resolution. It is less than a decade since the state-of-the-art, commercially available TEM was a 200kV instrument with a spherical aberration coefficient of 1.2mm, and an interpretable resolution limit (ie. first zero crossover of the contrast transfer function) of 2.5A.


Author(s):  
Patricia G. Arscott ◽  
Gil Lee ◽  
Victor A. Bloomfield ◽  
D. Fennell Evans

STM is one of the most promising techniques available for visualizing the fine details of biomolecular structure. It has been used to map the surface topography of inorganic materials in atomic dimensions, and thus has the resolving power not only to determine the conformation of small molecules but to distinguish site-specific features within a molecule. That level of detail is of critical importance in understanding the relationship between form and function in biological systems. The size, shape, and accessibility of molecular structures can be determined much more accurately by STM than by electron microscopy since no staining, shadowing or labeling with heavy metals is required, and there is no exposure to damaging radiation by electrons. Crystallography and most other physical techniques do not give information about individual molecules.We have obtained striking images of DNA and RNA, using calf thymus DNA and two synthetic polynucleotides, poly(dG-me5dC)·poly(dG-me5dC) and poly(rA)·poly(rU).


Author(s):  
Philippe Pradère ◽  
Edwin L. Thomas

High Resolution Electron Microscopy (HREM) is a very powerful technique for the study of crystal defects at the molecular level. Unfortunately polymer crystals are beam sensitive and are destroyed almost instantly under the typical HREM imaging conditions used for inorganic materials. Recent developments of low dose imaging at low magnification have nevertheless permitted the attainment of lattice images of very radiation sensitive polymers such as poly-4-methylpentene-1 and enabled molecular level studies of crystal defects in somewhat more resistant ones such as polyparaxylylene (PPX) [2].With low dose conditions the images obtained are very noisy. Noise arises from the support film, photographic emulsion granularity and in particular, the statistical distribution of electrons at the typical doses of only few electrons per unit resolution area. Figure 1 shows the shapes of electron distribution, according to the Poisson formula :


Author(s):  
Kiyomichi Nakai ◽  
Yusuke Isobe ◽  
Chiken Kinoshita ◽  
Kazutoshi Shinohara

Induced spinodal decomposition under electron irradiation in a Ni-Au alloy has been investigated with respect to its basic mechanism and confirmed to be caused by the relaxation of coherent strain associated with modulated structure. Modulation of white-dots on structure images of modulated structure due to high-resolution electron microscopy is reduced with irradiation. In this paper the atom arrangement of the modulated structure is confirmed with computer simulation on the structure images, and the relaxation of the coherent strain is concluded to be due to the reduction of phase-modulation.Structure images of three-dimensional modulated structure along <100> were taken with the JEM-4000EX high-resolution electron microscope at the HVEM Laboratory, Kyushu University. The transmitted beam and four 200 reflections with their satellites from the modulated structure in an fee Ni-30.0at%Au alloy under illumination of 400keV electrons were used for the structure images under a condition of the spherical aberration constant of the objective lens, Cs = 1mm, the divergence of the beam, α = 3 × 10-4 rad, underfocus, Δf ≃ -50nm and specimen thickness, t ≃ 15nm. The CIHRTEM code was used for the simulation of the structure image.


Author(s):  
S. Horiuchi ◽  
Y. Matsui

A new high-voltage electron microscope (H-1500) specially aiming at super-high-resolution (1.0 Å point-to-point resolution) is now installed in National Institute for Research in Inorganic Materials ( NIRIM ), in collaboration with Hitachi Ltd. The national budget of about 1 billion yen including that for a new building has been spent for the construction in the last two years (1988-1989). Here we introduce some essential characteristics of the microscope.(1) According to the analysis on the magnetic field in an electron lens, based on the finite-element-method, the spherical as well as chromatic aberration coefficients ( Cs and Cc ). which enables us to reach the resolving power of 1.0Å. have been estimated as a function of the accelerating As a result of the calculaton. it was noted that more than 1250 kV is needed even when we apply the highest level of the technology and materials available at present. On the other hand, we must consider the protection against the leakage of X-ray. We have then decided to set the conventional accelerating voltage at 1300 kV. However. the maximum accessible voltage is 1500 kV, which is practically important to realize higher voltage stabillity. At 1300 kV it is expected that Cs= 1.7 mm and Cc=3.4 mm with the attachment of the specimen holder, which tilts bi-axially in an angle of 35° ( Fig.1 ). In order to minimize the value of Cc a small tank is additionally placed inside the generator tank, which must serve to seal the magnetic field around the acceleration tube. An electron gun with LaB6 tip is used.


2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (6) ◽  
pp. 723-729
Author(s):  
Roslyn Gleadow ◽  
Jim Hanan ◽  
Alan Dorin

Food security and the sustainability of native ecosystems depends on plant-insect interactions in countless ways. Recently reported rapid and immense declines in insect numbers due to climate change, the use of pesticides and herbicides, the introduction of agricultural monocultures, and the destruction of insect native habitat, are all potential contributors to this grave situation. Some researchers are working towards a future where natural insect pollinators might be replaced with free-flying robotic bees, an ecologically problematic proposal. We argue instead that creating environments that are friendly to bees and exploring the use of other species for pollination and bio-control, particularly in non-European countries, are more ecologically sound approaches. The computer simulation of insect-plant interactions is a far more measured application of technology that may assist in managing, or averting, ‘Insect Armageddon' from both practical and ethical viewpoints.


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