Papers

AVS2012 Session AS+NS+SS+TF-WeA: 3D Imaging & Nanochemical Analysis - Part 2 (2:00-3:20 pm)/ Advanced Data Analysis and Instrument Control (4:00-6:00 pm)

Wednesday, October 31, 2012 2:00 PM in Room 20

Wednesday Afternoon

Start	Invited?	Item
2:00 PM		AS+NS+SS+TF-WeA-1 From Atomic Scale to Materials Behavior: Using Atom-Probe Tomography to Understand the Behavior of Alloys and Ceramics Emmanuelle Marquis (University of Michigan) The ability to improve the performance of functional materials is driven by how well microstructure can be understood and controlled. The three-dimensional distribution of solutes, dopants or impurities in particular, in relation to structural features determines such properties as fracture toughness, strength, ductility, as well as electrical and magnetic response. After a brief introduction to atom-probe tomography, I will illustrate how high resolution characterization approaches can be used systematically to understand the atomic scale processes controlling materials microstructures and their evolution, focusing on alloys and ceramic systems. Several topics will be presented: precipitation and coarsening behavior of Al-based alloys, grain boundary chemistry and role of impurities during irradiation in ferritic steels which may play an important role in fracture and corrosion resistance, the development of oxide-dispersion strengthened steels for structural applications in future nuclear reactors and the role of minor elements in controlling the oxidation behavior of Ni-base alloys for high temperature power generation applications.
2:40 PM		AS+NS+SS+TF-WeA-3 Three Dimensional Atomic Scale Characterization of Binary and Complex Oxides using Atom Probe Tomography Arun Devaraj, Robert Colby, Daniel Perea, Suntharampillai Thevuthasan (EMSL, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory) The development of three dimensional, high spatial and mass resolution characterization techniques is important for several materials used in applications ranging from catalysis, sensors to optoelectronics. Laser assisted atom probe tomography (APT) technique offers such an opportunity to perform atomic scale three dimensional analysis of materials including metals, semiconductors and dielectrics, with subnanometer spatial resolution and sub-ppm level mass resolution. The Cameca LEAP 4000XHR Atom Probe equipped with 355nm UV pulsed laser is used to analyze technologically important binary bulk oxides like MgO, Al₂O₃, TiO₂ and CeO₂. A strong correlation between applied UV laser energy and measured stoichiometry was observed for all these binary oxides. Using those results the importance of laser energy optimization on obtaining accurate stoichiometric composition analysis for oxides will be highlighted. Extension of such laser parametric investigation to complex oxides including SrTiO₃, LaCrO₃ and LaSrMnO₃ will also be presented. In addition the impact of laser pulsing on atomic scale structure of the oxide APT sample surface was studied by a direct cross correlation with aberration corrected TEM. The information on the atomic scale structure of the field evaporated oxide APT samples will be utilized to postulate the laser-oxide material interaction occurring during APT analysis of such oxides leading to the dependency of applied laser energy on measured stoichiometry.
3:00 PM		AS+NS+SS+TF-WeA-4 Atom Probe Tomography of Complex Heterogeneous Low Dimensional Materials Suntharampillai Thevuthasan, Arun Devaraj, Robert Colby, Daniel Perea, V. Subramanian, Vaithiyalingam Shutthanandan (Pacific Northwest National Laboratory) EMSL, a national scientific user facility of the DOE, is developing a comprehensive chemical imaging capability combining atom probe tomography with high resolution (scanning) transmission electron microscopy(HR(S)TEM) and high resolution Rutherford back scattering spectrometry (HRRBS) to provide solutions to problems pertaining to energy and environmental applications. We will emphasize on a chemical imaging effort aimed at atomically-resolved composition and structural analysis of low dimensional materials such as nanowires and embedded metal nanoparticles highlighting the benefits and challenges for APT. A unique benefit of APT is the ability to characterize the ppm level concentration and distribution of dopants across semiconducting nanowire heterojunctions. The preferential incorporation of dopants at specific atomic facets at the heterojunction interface in Si-Ge nanowires can only be characterized by using APT. Another important class of low dimensional materials includes embedded metal nanoparticles in oxides with applications in catalysis, sensors and optoelectronic applications. In order to extent APT analysis capability to such materials a cross correlative approach of combining APT with aberration corrected HRSTEM is employed. The results from the model system of ion beam synthesized Au and Ag nanoparticles embedded in MgO will be presented.
3:20 PM		BREAK
4:00 PM		AS+NS+SS+TF-WeA-7 Upgrading a 25 Year Old ims-4f Magnetic Sector SIMS Instrument: Teaching an Old Dog New Tricks and Keeping Research in its Future Albert Fahey, Benjamin Naes, George Hager (Pacific Northwest National Laboratory) The CAMECA ims-4f at PNNL is nearly 25 years old. Although much of the vacuum system, electrostatic optics and associated apertures and slits have been maintained and remain operational the electronics that control the critical components of this machine has gone beyond the typical “mean-time-between failure” of nearly all components, which is typically 10 years. The original electronics designs, many of which are no longer employed on the newer CAMECA models, incorporated multiple series of relays to control lens voltages that allowed isolation of low control and high voltage output. These relays, among other components, are failing. Some components of the electrostatic optics and vacuum system are targeted to be replaced to upgrade the capabilities of the instrument and to use physical components from our “surplus” ims-4f system than would enhance the operation of the PNNL ims-4f giving in near-equivalence to the operation of an ims-7f. The upgraded electronics and control systems are being designed in a modular way using as many commercial components as possible, such as modular high voltage power supplies and commercially available high-voltage operational amplifiers.The new system will allow for complete control of all subsystems on the instrument and will improve repeatability of settings and measurements. We will be able to perform measurements sets and sequences that are currently not possible on any existing SIMS instrument. In addition, the new computer controlled system should make operation of the SIMS instrument more accessible to other investigators as it should reduce the level of training needed to operate the instrument. Currently, the operator must adjust “knobs” to tune the instrument and reproduce prior operating conditions. With the upgraded system conditions will be recalled from saved files. All modular components are being housed in ANSI-standard DIN modules and sub-racks. Control, monitoring and data acquisition will largely be performed via PXI subsystems. The Vacuum will be controlled and monitored via a commercial process control system. Also, several other individual instruments will be used in critical positions around the instrument. Details of the upgrade will be discussed as well as improvements to the flexibility of measurements and the performance of the system. An outline of the types of measurements that should be available with all modern sytems will be presented and discussed as well as the results of improvements implemented to the PNNL ims-4f SIMS instrument.
4:20 PM		AS+NS+SS+TF-WeA-8 Automated Processing of X-ray Photo-Electron Spectra Karol Macak, Eva Macak, Sarah Coultas, Simon Hutton, Adam Roberts, Roberto Raso, Simon Page, Chris Blomfield (Kratos Analytical Ltd, UK) Modern XPS instruments are capable of generating a large amount of data in a hands-off automated fashion. Many new material challenges are increasingly reliant upon XPS for sample screening and other high throughput, low operator intervention applications. The interpretation of XPS data and reliable quantification from the acquired results presents an opportunity to improve the whole experimental automation still further. We present an algorithm for fully automated processing of X-ray photo-electron spectra. The analysis is split into three stages: background subtraction, peak identification and quantification of element composition. Each step can be carried out separately and the user can provide prior knowledge of the sample by manually selecting regions, assigning their labels and/or explicitly include/exclude specific elements. This additional information then helps to improve the accuracy of the results. The algorithm was tested on more than 1000 spectra, selected from a wide range of different materials; including steels, polymers, semiconductors and ceramics. These spectra were processed using the automated procedure and the outcomes were compared to those determined by expert users. The average element detection success rate was 87 %. The influence of various experimental conditions (such as signal-to-noise ratio and operating conditions) on the identification procedure is also discussed.
4:40 PM		AS+NS+SS+TF-WeA-9 Correlating Structure and Chemistry – A Multitechnique Study using Light Microscopy (LM), SEM and XPS Michaeleen Pacholski, Peter Eastman (The Dow Chemical Company) Understanding the distribution of carbon-rich chemistries on organic substrates can be very difficult, particularly when the substrates are not uniform, such as cellulose fibers. Recently we have been challenged to measure the distribution of an olefin polymer on a fibrous cellulose sheet. In order to verify that measured chemical distributions were definitively from polymer, as well as to understand the morphology of the deposited polymer, it was highly desired to study identical areas using SEM and other imaging techniques. Although several chemical imaging methods were investigated, it became apparent that XPS imaging was the only chemical technique capable of obtaining distributions over the desired fields of view (1 mm-3 mm). Registry of the SEM images with XPS images proved to be difficult since many of the traditional registry methods, such as marking with ink or gluing markers to the surface are ill-suited to absorbent cellulose. The first step was to align relatively low magnification light microscope images from a stereoscope with optical images captured directly in the XPS instrument. These images were then used as a “bridge” to align the higher magnification SEM and XPS images. With this method, deposited polymer and chemical information were correlated with high spatial accuracy. Composite images showing the chemical information as colored overlays on the SEM images were generated to clearly display the correlation.