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Biomedical subjects

C Kisielowski

Publications and source records attributed to C Kisielowski.

11 recordsLinked to original sources

Electron channelling based crystallography.

Electron channelling occurs when the incident electron beam is parallel to the atom columns of an object, such as a crystal or a particular crystal defect. Then, the electrons are trapped in the electrostatic potential of an atom column in which they scatter dynamically. This picture provides physical insight and explains why a one-to-one correspondence is maintained between the exit wave and the projected structure, even in case of strong dynamical scattering. Moreover, the theory is very useful to invert the dynamical scattering, that is, to derive the projected structure from the exit wave. Finally, it can be used to determine the composition of an atom column with single atom sensitivity or to explain dynamical electron diffraction effects. In this paper, an overview of the channelling theory will be given together with some recent applications.

Journal Article↗

Distortion and segregation in a dislocation core region at atomic resolution.

The structure of an isolated, Ga terminated, 30 degree partial dislocation in GaAs:Be is determined by high resolution transmission electron microscopes and focal series reconstruction. The positions of atomic columns in the core region are measured to an accuracy of better than 10 pm. A quantitative comparison of the structure predicted by an ab initio electronic structure total energy calculation to the experiment indicates that theory and experiment agree to within 20 pm. Further analysis shows the deviations between theory and experiment appear to be systematic. Electron energy loss spectroscopy establishes that defects segregate to the core region, thus accounting for the systematic deviations.

Journal Article↗

Nonlinear imaging using annular dark field TEM.

Annular dark field TEM images exhibit a dominant mass-thickness contrast that can be quantified to extract single atom scattering cross sections. On top of this incoherent background, additional lattice fringes appear with a nonlinear information limit of 1.2A at 150 kV. The formation of these fringes is described by coherent nonlinear imaging theory and good agreement is found between experimental and simulated images. Calculations furthermore predict that the use of aberration corrected microscopes will improve the image quality dramatically.

Journal Article↗

Interface structure and atomic bonding characteristics in silicon nitride ceramics.

Direct atomic resolution images have been obtained that illustrate how a range of rare-earth atoms bond to the interface between the intergranular phase and the matrix grains in an advanced silicon nitride ceramic. It has been found that each rare-earth atom bonds to the interface at a different location, depending on atom size, electronic configuration, and the presence of oxygen at the interface. This is the key factor to understanding the origin of the mechanical properties in these ceramics and will enable precise tailoring in the future to critically improve the materials' performance in wide-ranging applications.

Journal Article↗

Thin dielectric film thickness determination by advanced transmission electron microscopy.

High-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM) has been used as the ultimate method of thickness measurement for thin films. The appearance of phase contrast interference patterns in HR-TEM images has long been confused as the appearance of a crystal lattice by nonspecialists. Relatively easy to interpret crystal lattice images are now directly observed with the introduction of annular dark-field detectors for scanning TEM (STEM). With the recent development of reliable lattice image processing software that creates crystal structure images from phase contrast data, HR-TEM can also provide crystal lattice images. The resolution of both methods has been steadily improved reaching now into the sub-Angstrom region. Improvements in electron lens and image analysis software are increasing the spatial resolution of both methods. Optimum resolution for STEM requires that the probe beam be highly localized. In STEM, beam localization is enhanced by selection of the correct aperture. When STEM measurement is done using a highly localized probe beam, HR-TEM and STEM measurement of the thickness of silicon oxynitride films agree within experimental error. In this article, the optimum conditions for HR-TEM and STEM measurement are discussed along with a method for repeatable film thickness determination. The impact of sample thickness is also discussed. The key result in this article is the proposal of a reproducible method for film thickness determination.

Image Processing, Computer-Assisted↗

Imaging columns of the light elements carbon, nitrogen and oxygen with sub Angstrom resolution.

It is reported that lattice imaging with a 300 kV field emission microscope in combination with numerical reconstruction procedures can be used to reach an interpretable resolution of about 80 pm for the first time. A retrieval of the electron exit wave from focal series allows for the resolution of single atomic columns of the light elements carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen at a projected nearest neighbor spacing down to 85 pm. Lens aberrations are corrected on-line during the experiment and by hardware such that resulting image distortions are below 80 pm. Consequently, the imaging can be aberration-free to this extent. The resolution enhancement results from increased electrical and mechanical stability of the instrument coupled with a low spherical aberration coefficient of 0.595 + 0.005 mm.

Journal Article↗

Sub-Angstrom high-resolution transmission electron microscopy at 300 keV.

Sub-Angstrom transmission electron microscopy has been achieved at the National Center for Electron Microscopy (NCEM) by a one-Angstrom microscope (OAM) project using software and enhanced hardware developed within a Brite-Euram project (Ultramicroscopy 64 (1996) 1). The NCEM OAM provides materials scientists with transmission electron microscopy at a resolution better than 1 A by using extensive image reconstruction to exploit the significantly higher information limit of an FEG-TEM over its Scherzer resolution limit. Reconstruction methods chosen used off-axis holograms and focal series of underfocused images. Measured values of coherence parameters predict an information limit of 0.78 A. Images from a [1 1 0] diamond test specimen show that sub-Angstrom resolution of 0.89 A has been achieved with the OAM using focal series reconstruction.

Journal Article↗