Investigation of Antiphase Domain Boundaries in Cobalt Ferrite Thin Films via High Resolution Scanning Transmission Electron Microscopy

AbstractTitanium silicide films grown on silicon were analyzed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), electron diffraction, scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM), and energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy. The films were prepared by sequential rapid thermal annealing (RTA) at 675 °C and 850 °C of 16-nm-thick sputtered Ti on Si (001) wafers. In some cases, a 20-nm-thick TiN capping layer was deposited on the Ti film before the RTA procedure and was removed after annealing. TEM and STEM analyses showed that the silicide films were less than 0.1 μm thick; the capped film was more uniform, ranging in thickness from ∼ 25 – 45 nm, while the uncapped film ranged in thickness from ∼ 15 – 75 nm. Electron diffraction was used to determine that the capped film contained C54-TiSi2, C49-TiSi2, Ti5Si3, and possibly TiSi, and that the uncapped film contained C49-TiSi2, TiSi, Ti5Si3, unreacted Ti, and possibly C54-TiSi2.

Download Full-text

Comparison of Cliff–Lorimer-Based Methods of Scanning Transmission Electron Microscopy (STEM) Quantitative X-Ray Microanalysis for Application to Silicon Oxycarbides Thin Films

Microscopy and Microanalysis ◽

10.1017/s1431927618000259 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 24 (3) ◽

pp. 193-206 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Andrea Parisini ◽

Stefano Frabboni ◽

Gian Carlo Gazzadi ◽

Rodolfo Rosa ◽

Aldo Armigliato

Keyword(s):

Electron Microscopy ◽

Thin Films ◽

Transmission Electron Microscopy ◽

Scanning Transmission Electron Microscopy ◽

Focused Ion Beam ◽

Ion Beam ◽

Photon Absorption ◽

Scanning Transmission Electron ◽

Transmission Electron ◽

Scanning Transmission

AbstractIn this work, we compare the results of different Cliff–Lorimer (Cliff & Lorimer 1975) based methods in the case of a quantitative energy dispersive spectrometry investigation of light elements in ternary C–O–Si thin films. To determine the Cliff–Lorimer (C–L) k-factors, we fabricated, by focused ion beam, a standard consisting of a wedge lamella with a truncated tip, composed of two parallel SiO2 and 4H-SiC stripes. In 4H-SiC, it was not possible to obtain reliable k-factors from standard extrapolation methods owing to the strong CK-photon absorption. To overcome this problem, an extrapolation method exploiting the shape of the truncated tip of the lamella is proposed herein. The k-factors thus determined, were then used in an application of the C–L quantification procedure to a defect found at the SiO2/4H-SiC interface in the channel region of a metal-oxide field-effect-transistor device. As in this procedure, the sample thickness is required, a method to determine this quantity from the averaged and normalized scanning transmission electron microscopy intensity is also detailed. Monte Carlo simulations were used to investigate the discrepancy between experimental and theoretical k-factors and to bridge the gap between the k-factor and the Watanabe and Williams ζ-factor methods (Watanabe & Williams, 2006).

Download Full-text