Exploring the capabilities of monochromated electron energy loss spectroscopy in the infrared regime

Jordan A. Hachtel; Andrew R. Lupini; Juan Carlos Idrobo

doi:10.1038/s41598-018-23805-5

Exploring the capabilities of monochromated electron energy loss spectroscopy in the infrared regime

Jordan A. Hachtel, Andrew R. Lupini, Juan Carlos Idrobo

electron Microscopy and Microanalysis

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

68 Scopus citations

Abstract

Monochromated electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS) is one of the leading techniques to study materials properties that correspond to low (<5 eV) energy losses (i.e. band-gaps, plasmons, and excitons) with nanoscale spatial resolution. Recently a new generation of monochromators have become available, opening regimes and unlocking excitations that were previously unobservable in the electron microscope. The capabilities of these new instruments are still being explored, and here we study the effect of monochromation on various aspects of EELS analysis in the infrared (<1 eV) regime. We investigate the effect of varying levels of monochromation on energy resolution, zero-loss peak (ZLP) tail reduction, ZLP tail shape, signal-to-noise-ratio, and spatial resolution. From these experiments, the new capabilities of monochromated EELS are shown to be highly promising for the future of localized spectroscopic analysis.

Original language	English
Article number	5637
Journal	Scientific Reports
Volume	8
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-23805-5
State	Published - Dec 1 2018

Funding

This research was supported by the Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences, which is a DOE Office of Science User Facility (JAH & JCI), and by the Materials Sciences and Engineering Division Office of Basic Energy Sciences, U.S. Department of Energy (ARL). This research was conducted, in part, using instrumentation within ORNL’s Materials Characterization Core provided by UT-Battelle, LLC under Contract No. DE-AC05-00OR22725 with the U.S. Department of Energy. The authors would like to thank all the staff at Nion for many fruitful discussions, while visiting their headquarters during the testing of and training for the instrument, and during the installation period at ORNL.

Funders	Funder number
Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences
Materials Sciences and Engineering Division Office of Basic Energy Sciences
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Science
Army Research Laboratory
UT-Battelle	DE-AC05-00OR22725

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abstract = "Monochromated electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS) is one of the leading techniques to study materials properties that correspond to low (<5 eV) energy losses (i.e. band-gaps, plasmons, and excitons) with nanoscale spatial resolution. Recently a new generation of monochromators have become available, opening regimes and unlocking excitations that were previously unobservable in the electron microscope. The capabilities of these new instruments are still being explored, and here we study the effect of monochromation on various aspects of EELS analysis in the infrared (<1 eV) regime. We investigate the effect of varying levels of monochromation on energy resolution, zero-loss peak (ZLP) tail reduction, ZLP tail shape, signal-to-noise-ratio, and spatial resolution. From these experiments, the new capabilities of monochromated EELS are shown to be highly promising for the future of localized spectroscopic analysis.",

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Exploring the capabilities of monochromated electron energy loss spectroscopy in the infrared regime

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