Skip to main content
Log in

Increased mobility of an α-Al2O3 grain boundary by electron-beam irradiation

  • Ceramics
  • Published:
Journal of Materials Science Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

When subjected to electron-beam irradiation in a transmission electron microscope, the grain boundary in an α-Al2O3 bicrystal is observed to migrate even at room temperature. The bicrystal is composed of grains with the same normal direction, and thus the difference in strain energy or surface energy between the two grains cannot explain the observed migration. We attribute this phenomenon to an increase in grain boundary mobility by electron-beam irradiation, especially by radiolysis effects.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Sutton AP, Balluffi RW (1995) Interfaces in crystalline materials. Clarendon Press, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  2. Wolf D, Yip S (eds) (1992) Materials interfaces: atomic-level structure and properties. Chapman & Hall, London

    Google Scholar 

  3. Gleiter H, Chalmers B (1972) High-angle grain boundaries. Pergamon, Oxford, pp 127–178

    Google Scholar 

  4. Wong CC, Smith HI, Thompson CV (1985) Surface-energy driven secondary grain growth in thin Au films. Appl Phys Lett 48:335–337

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Palmer JE, Thompson CV, Smith HI (1987) Grain growth and grain size distributions in thin germanium films. J Appl Phys 62:2492–2497

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Detavernier C, Deduytsche D, van Meirhaeghe RL, de Baerdemaeker J, Dauwe C (2003) Appl Phys Lett 82:1863–1865

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Zielinski EM, Vinci RP, Bravman JC (1994) Effects of barrier layer and annealing on abnormal grain growth in copper thin films. J Appl Phys 76:4516–4523

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Simões S, Calinas R, Vieira MT, Vieira MF, Ferreira PJ (2010) In situ TEM study of grain growth in nanocrystalline copper thin films. Nanotechnology 21:145701–1–145701-12

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Egerton RF, Li P, Malac M (2004) Radiation damage in the TEM and SEM. Micron 35:399–409

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Williams DB, Carter CB (1996) Transmission electron microscopy. Plenum, New York, pp 49–65

    Book  Google Scholar 

  11. Egerton RF, McLeod R, Wang F, Malac M (2010) Basic questions related to electron-induced sputtering in the TEM. Ultramicroscopy 110:991–997

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Cazaux J (1995) Correlations between ionization radiation damage and charging effects in transmission electron microscopy. Ultramicroscopy 60:411–425

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Jiang N, Silcox J (2002) Electron irradiation induced phase decomposition in alkaline earth multi-component oxide glass. J Appl Phys 92:2310–2316

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Humphreys J, Bullough TJ, Devenish RW, Maher DM, Turner PS (1990) Electron beam nano-etching in oxides, fluorides, metals and semiconductors. Scanning Microsc Suppl 4:185–192

    Google Scholar 

  15. Hobbs LW (1979) Radiation effects in analysis of inorganic specimens by TEM. In: Hren JJ, Goldstein JI, Joy DC (eds) Introduction to analytical electron microscopy. Plenum, New York, pp 437–480

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  16. Knotek ML, Feibelman PJ (1978) Ion desorption by core-hole Auger decay. Phys Rev Lett 40:964–967

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Feibelman PJ, Knotek ML (1978) Reinterpretation of electron-stimulated desorption data from chemisorption systems. Phys Rev B 18:6531–6539

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Pells GP, Philips DC (1979) Radiation damage of α-Al2O3 in the HVEM. J Nucl Mater 80:207–214

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea funded by the Ministry of Education (2016R1D1A1A09916302) (RIAM) and by the Engineering Research Center (ERC) program of the National Research Foundation of Korea funded by the Ministry of Science and ICT (2015R1A5A1037627).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Sung Bo Lee.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Lee, S.B., Lee, SY., Kim, M. et al. Increased mobility of an α-Al2O3 grain boundary by electron-beam irradiation. J Mater Sci 53, 2383–2388 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-017-1688-z

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-017-1688-z

Keywords

Navigation