A method for thin foil thickness determination by transmission electron microscopy.

M. V. CASTRO RIGLOS; A. TOLLEY

APPLIED SURFACE SCIENCE

ELSEVIER

Año: 2007 vol. 254 p. 420 - 424

0169-4332

With the intention of determining the local thickness within a crystalline thin foil specimen, by means of transmission electron microscopy (TEM),amethod previously proposed byZuo and Shi [J.M.Zuo,Y.F. Shi,Microsc.Microanal. 7 (Suppl. 2) (2001) 224?225]was applied. Using the convergentbeamtechnique, with the incident beam parallel to a zone axiswith low indices, diffraction patterns were obtained for some aluminumalloyswith lowsolute content. These patterns were contrasted with those obtained fromsimulations based on the dynamic theory with Bloch?s waves formalism. Thelocal thickness of the thin foil was then obtained by visually comparing the simulated patterns with the experimental one.Comparison of the proposed method with that based on the analysis of two-beam convergent beam patterns [P.M. Kelly, A. Jostsons, R.G.Blake, J.G. Napier, Phys. Stat. Solidi (a) 31 (1975) 771?780] and with that based on the ratio of intensity of the zero loss peak to the total intensity inan electron energy loss spectrum [R.F. Egerton, Electron Energy Loss Spectroscopy in the Electron Microscope, second ed., Plenum Press, NewYork, 1996] was carried out. Avery good agreement between thicknesses determined using the different methods was found. The sensitivity of themethod of Zuo et al. was found to be about 1 or 2 nm. The advantages and limitations of the different methods are discussed. The method of Zuoet al. can provide fast and reliable results and can be applied in all modern instruments.# 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.