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A Tool for Local Thickness Determination and Grain Boundary Characterization by CTEM and HRTEM Techniques

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 March 2015

Ákos K. Kiss ,
Edgar F. Rauch ,
Béla Pécz ,
János Szívós  and
János L. Lábár
Ákos K. Kiss
Affiliation:
Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Research Center for Natural Sciences, Institute for Technical Physics and Materials Science, Konkoly Thege M. út 29-33, H-1121 Budapest, Hungary Doctoral School of Molecular- and Nanotechnologies, Faculty of Information Technology, University of Pannonia, Egyetem u. 10, H-8200 Veszprém, Hungary
Edgar F. Rauch
Affiliation:
SIMaP, Grenoble INP/CNRS, 1130 rue de la Piscine, BP 75, F-38402 St Martin D’Heres, France
Béla Pécz
Affiliation:
Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Research Center for Natural Sciences, Institute for Technical Physics and Materials Science, Konkoly Thege M. út 29-33, H-1121 Budapest, Hungary
János Szívós
Affiliation:
Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Research Center for Natural Sciences, Institute for Technical Physics and Materials Science, Konkoly Thege M. út 29-33, H-1121 Budapest, Hungary Doctoral School of Molecular- and Nanotechnologies, Faculty of Information Technology, University of Pannonia, Egyetem u. 10, H-8200 Veszprém, Hungary
János L. Lábár*
Affiliation:
Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Research Center for Natural Sciences, Institute for Technical Physics and Materials Science, Konkoly Thege M. út 29-33, H-1121 Budapest, Hungary
*
*Corresponding author. labar.janos@ttk.mta.hu
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Abstract

A new approach for measurement of local thickness and characterization of grain boundaries is presented. The method is embodied in a software tool that helps to find and set sample orientations useful for high-resolution transmission electron microscopic (HRTEM) examination of grain boundaries in polycrystalline thin films. The novelty is the simultaneous treatment of the two neighboring grains and orienting both grains and the boundary plane simultaneously. The same metric matrix-based formalism is used for all crystal systems. Input into the software tool includes orientation data for the grains in question, which is determined automatically for a large number of grains by the commercial ASTAR program. Grain boundaries suitable for HRTEM examination are automatically identified by our software tool. Individual boundaries are selected manually for detailed HRTEM examination from the automatically identified set. Goniometer settings needed to observe the selected boundary in HRTEM are advised by the software. Operation is demonstrated on examples from cubic and hexagonal crystal systems.

Keywords

thickness determinationgrain boundary (GB)grain boundary planehigh-resolution TEM (HRTEM)calculate common tilt
Type
Materials Applications
Information
Microscopy and Microanalysis , Volume 21 , Issue 2 , April 2015 , pp. 422 - 435
Copyright
© Microscopy Society of America 2015 

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