Scanning Nano-Structure Electron Microscopy-Hidden Potential for Evolving Systems

摘要: In recent years, Electron Diffraction, and especially the 4D-STEM [2] is growingly becoming a routine part of structural characterizations of materials at the nano-scale. Its un-matched spatial resolution (down to sub-nm) enables the exploration of local variations within a sample, which alternatively is averaged over the entire irradiated sampled area, when explored, for example, by xrays. As often shown in electron microscope, samples are often heterogeneous, and consequently their local properties, which then reflect on the average behavior of the material, composite, or device. Besides morphology and composition, the local structural order can vary, especially in evolving systems. In this study, we explore how far we can take electron diffraction when the interest is in the evolution of materials.We challenge ourselves with mapping the local structure in a composite of crystalline Ni and amorphous Zr-Cu-Ni-Al Bulk …