Biomedical subjects

Werner Grogger

Publications and source records attributed to Werner Grogger.

6 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

EFTEM spectrum imaging at high-energy resolution.

This paper deals with the application of high-energy resolution EFTEM image series and the corrections needed for reliable data interpretation. The detail of spectral information gained from an image series is largely determined by the intrinsic energy resolution. In this work we show that energy resolution values of as low as 0.8 eV in spectra extracted from EFTEM image series can be obtained with a small energy-selecting slit. At this resolution level aberrations of the energy filter, in particular the non-isochromaticity, can no longer be neglected. We show that the four most prominent factors for EFTEM image series data correction--spatial drift, non-isochromaticity, energy drift and image distortion--must not be treated independently but have to be corrected in unison. We present an efficient algorithm for this correction, and demonstrate the applied correction for the case of a GaN/AlN multilayer sample.

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PubMed2006

Electron-irradiation damage in chromium nitrides and chromium oxynitride thin films.

The aim of this work is to monitor changes of the N-K electron energy-loss near-edge structure (ELNES) of chromium nitride layers (CrN) introduced by electron irradiation in a transmission electron microscope (TEM). These changes are different for each sample material and seem to give an indication for a particular composition. The CrN samples (CrN and Cr(0.47)N(0.53)) were prepared on silicon wafers by reactive magnetron sputtering of a metallic chromium target in nitrogen plasma. In addition, a CrON sample (Cr(0.5)O(0.2)N(0.3)) was also investigated. This sample was prepared by the addition of oxygen to the plasma during film deposition. The ELNES of the N-K ionization edge of stoichiometric CrN shows a typical fine structure (peaks at 399.0 and 401.1 eV) and remains nearly unaffected even after high-current-density irradiation. On the other hand the N-K fine structures of Cr(0.47)N(0.53) and Cr(0.5)O(0.2)N(0.3) show a change of the ELNES with irradiation dose. This presumably arises from a 1s-pi*-transition of molecular nitrogen located at interstitial positions in these samples.

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PubMed2005

Advantages of a monochromator for bandgap measurements using electron energy-loss spectroscopy.

The practical advantages of a monochromator for electron energy-loss spectroscopy (EELS) in transmission electron microscopy are reviewed. The zero-loss peaks (ZLPs) of a monochromator and a cold field emission gun are compared in terms of bandgap measurement performance. The intensity of the ZLP tails at the bandgap energy is more important than the full-width at half maximum of the ZLP, and a monochromator is preferable to conventional electron sources. The silicon bandgap of 1.1eV is evaluated from the onset in the EEL spectrum obtained using the monochromator without a numerical procedure. We also show a high-speed instability-correction technique to realize the inherent energy resolution of the monochromator, in which instabilities of less than 335Hz are corrected using 512 EEL spectra obtained with an exposure time of 1.4ms. It will be useful in bandgap measurements and advanced studies for elucidating sub-eV EEL spectra.

Journal Article↗

PubMed2004

Automated spatial drift correction for EFTEM image series.

Energy filtering transmission electron microscopy (EFTEM) is a widely used technique in many areas of scientific research. Image contrast in energy-filtered images arises from specific scattering events such as the ionization of atoms. By combining a set of two or more images, relative sample thickness maps or elemental distribution maps can be easily created. It is also possible to acquire a whole series of energy-filtered images to do more complex data analysis. However, whenever several images are combined to extract certain information, problems are introduced due to sample drift between the exposures. In order to obtain artifact-free information, this spatial drift has to be taken care of. Manual alignment by overlaying and shifting the images to find the best overlap is usually very accurate but extremely time consuming for larger data sets. When large amounts of images are recorded in an EFTEM series, manual correction is no longer a reasonable option. Hence, automatic routines have been developed that are mostly based on the cross-correlation algorithm. Existing routines, however, sometimes fail and again make time consuming manual adjustments necessary. In this paper we describe a new approach to the drift correction problem by incorporating a statistical treatment of the data and we present our statistically determined spatial drift (SDSD) correction program. We show its improved performance by applying it to a typical EFTEM series data block.

Algorithms↗

PubMed2003

Energy-filtering TEM at high magnification: spatial resolution and detection limits.

Energy-filtering TEM (EFTEM) has turned out to be a very efficient and rapid tool for the chemical characterization of a specimen on a nanometer and even subnanometer length scale. Especially, the detection and measurement of very thin layers has become a great application of this technique in many materials science fields, e.g. semiconductors and hard disk technology. There, the reliability of compositional profiles is an important issue. However, the experimentally obtainable spatial resolution strongly influences the appearance of a thin layer in an EFTEM image, when dimensions reach subnanometer levels, which mainly leads to a broadening of the layer in the image. This fact has to be taken into account, when measuring the thickness of such a thin layer. Additionally, the convolution decreases contrast which makes the layer less visible in the image and finally determines the detection limit. In this work we present a systematic study on specifically designed Mn/PdMn multilayer test specimens to explore the practical aspects of spatial resolution and detection limits in EFTEM. Although specific to the ionization edges used, we will present general conclusions about the practical limitations in terms of EFTEM spatial resolution. Additionally, work will be shown about low energy-loss imaging of thin oxide layers, where delocalization is the main factor responsible for broadening.

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PubMed2003

Width determination of SiO2-films in Si-based devices using low-loss EFTEM: image contrast as a function of sample thickness.

Energy filtering transmission electron microscopy (EFTEM) has become one of the most efficient tools for specimen characterization at nanometer length scales. EFTEM imaging is most often carried out in the core-loss region but image intensity becomes more and more a limiting factor with decreasing feature size. Alternatively, it is possible to record EFTEM images in the low-loss region, where intensities are essentially higher and where in many cases the images contain material specific contrasts. In this paper we investigate the influence of the important parameters on the material contrast between silicon and silicon dioxide, e.g. specimen thickness, specimen orientation, energy-loss and energy selecting slit width. We show that sample thickness plays an important role and present two methods to calculate material contrast as a function of energy-loss and sample thicknesses. The first method uses spectra taken from both materials at different sample thickness by electron energy-loss spectroscopy, the second calculates contrast directly from a series of energy filtered images. From the results we determine the ideal acquisition parameters for the Si/SiO(2) system and demonstrate imaging at sufficient resolution below 2nm with a test sample of thin SiO(2) layers on Si.

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