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A “Thickness Series”: Weak Signal Extraction of ELNES in EELS Spectra From Surfaces

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 December 2013

Guo-zhen Zhu
Affiliation:
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Canadian Centre for Electron Microscopy, McMaster University, 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, ON L8S 4M1, Canada
Gianluigi A. Botton*
Affiliation:
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Canadian Centre for Electron Microscopy, McMaster University, 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, ON L8S 4M1, Canada
*
*Corresponding author. E-mail: gbotton@mcmaster.ca
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Abstract

We report a new simple but effective method to extract the weak surface signals from a “thickness series” of recorded electron energy-loss spectra. Using precise thickness measurements and energy-loss near-edge structures measured at increasing thicknesses, we are able to extract the surface and bulk components in the series. The electronic structure and bonding information from SrTiO3 (001) reconstructed surfaces have been successfully obtained by applying this approach. This approach can be applied to study many other cases including absorbed monolayers and beam-sensitive interfaces.

Type
EDGE Special Issue
Copyright
Copyright © Microscopy Society of America 2013 

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