scholarly journals Stm at High Temperature: What you see is what you see … usually

1993 ◽  
Vol 1 (5) ◽  
pp. 4-4
Author(s):  
Michael M. Kersker

There remains two basic axioms of all microscopists: the first….if you look, you're bound to see something, and the second….not everything you will see is artifact. These axioms apply particularly well to scanning probe microscopy at the molecular and atomic level. Fortunately, coarser resolution images share comforting similarities with images from other established scanning methods. Holes in optical discs look like holes when probed with AFM tips, and these holes look very much like SEM images, a subject with which we have some familiarity. At the molecular and atomic level, however, the scanning probe instruments may or may not be “seeing” the sample, though they are clearly seeing something.Comparison of surface structure observed with indirect surface structural measurements, for example by LEED (Low Energy Electron Diffraction) or RHEED (Reflection High Energy Electron Diffraction) usually under ultra-high vacuum conditions can lead, by inference, to an understanding of the real bulk or average surface structure.

Author(s):  
D. Loretto ◽  
J. M. Gibson ◽  
S. M. Yalisove

The silicides CoSi2 and NiSi2 are both metallic with the fee flourite structure and lattice constants which are close to silicon (1.2% and 0.6% smaller at room temperature respectively) Consequently epitaxial cobalt and nickel disilicide can be grown on silicon. If these layers are formed by ultra high vacuum (UHV) deposition (also known as molecular beam epitaxy or MBE) their thickness can be controlled to within a few monolayers. Such ultrathin metal/silicon systems have many potential applications: for example electronic devices based on ballistic transport. They also provide a model system to study the properties of heterointerfaces. In this work we will discuss results obtained using in situ and ex situ transmission electron microscopy (TEM).In situ TEM is suited to the study of MBE growth for several reasons. It offers high spatial resolution and the ability to penetrate many monolayers of material. This is in contrast to the techniques which are usually employed for in situ measurements in MBE, for example low energy electron diffraction (LEED) and reflection high energy electron diffraction (RHEED), which are both sensitive to only a few monolayers at the surface.


Author(s):  
Michael T. Marshall ◽  
Xianghong Tong ◽  
J. Murray Gibson

We have modified a JEOL 2000EX Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM) to allow in-situ ultra-high vacuum (UHV) surface science experiments as well as transmission electron diffraction and imaging. Our goal is to support research in the areas of in-situ film growth, oxidation, and etching on semiconducter surfaces and, hence, gain fundamental insight of the structural components involved with these processes. The large volume chamber needed for such experiments limits the resolution to about 30 Å, primarily due to electron optics. Figure 1 shows the standard JEOL 2000EX TEM. The UHV chamber in figure 2 replaces the specimen area of the TEM, as shown in figure 3. The chamber is outfitted with Low Energy Electron Diffraction (LEED), Auger Electron Spectroscopy (AES), Residual Gas Analyzer (RGA), gas dosing, and evaporation sources. Reflection Electron Microscopy (REM) is also possible. This instrument is referred to as SHEBA (Surface High-energy Electron Beam Apparatus).The UHV chamber measures 800 mm in diameter and 400 mm in height. JEOL provided adapter flanges for the column.


The reactions between both (100) and (110) surfaces of tungsten and oxygen have been studied in an ultra-high vacuum environment by means of reflexion mode high energy electron diffraction. Particular attention has been paid to changes in interfacial geometry owing to faceting which occurs on the (100) surface, and oxide nucleation which occurs on both faces. The faceting of the (100) face is shown to be more complicated than had previously been supposed, the faceted surface being composed of {211} planes which are themselves faceted into {110} planes. The activation energy for the degradation of facets in a vacuum has been measured as 6.5 ± 1.5 eV, greatly in excess of values reported for the formation of facets. It is suggested that faceting arises from the evaporation of oxide molecules. At temperatures below 1025 K tungsten trioxide nuclei form on both the (100) and (110) surfaces when exposed to oxygen. The exposures needed to form nuclei are much greater for the (110) surfaces than for the (100). Nuclei also form on (100) surfaces which have been previously faceted by heating in oxygen at temperatures above 1025 K. In this case the exposures needed to produce nuclei are characteristic of the (110) surface. The epitaxial relationships between the oxide and the metal have been determined. A simple relation has been found to hold. It is postulated that the metal plane at the oxide interface is not necessarily that which was originally exposed to the gas phase.


Bragg’s 1913 publication of the principles of X-ray crystallography came only a year after von Laue’s discovery of X-ray diffraction from crystals. Structure determination (of small molecules) with high-energy electron diffraction followed by just three years the 1927 discovery of electron diffraction by Davisson and Germer. By contrast, low-energy electron diffraction (LEED) would require four more decades before yielding its first structure determinations (of surfaces) around 1970. The delay was primarily due to the need for ultra-high vacuum and to a lesser extent to the need for a suitable theory to model multiple scattering. This review will sketch the development of surface crystallography by LEED and describe its principles and present capabilities.


1994 ◽  
Vol 357 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Wagner ◽  
M. Ruhle

AbstractThe A1/MgO system has been used as a model system to study growth processes and structure at metal/ceramic interfaces. Aluminum films were grown on air-cleaved MgO (100) substrates in ultra high vacuum (UHV) by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). The substrates and films were characterized by reflection high energy electron diffraction (RHEED), x-ray diffraction (XRD), conventional transmission electron microscopy (CTEM), and high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HREM). XRD measurements exhibited a pronounced {100} texture. Employing electron diffraction in the TEM on cross sectional samples, we observed the following orientation relationship between Al and MgO: (100)A1 II (100)MgO; [010]A1 II [010]MgO. The atomistic structure of the interface was investigated by HREM. Regions of structural defects can be identified clearly at the interface.


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