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Modified qHAADF method for atomic column-by-column compositional quantification of semiconductor heterostructures

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Abstract

The qHAADF method allows the quantification of the composition at atomic column resolution in semiconductor materials by comparing the HAADF-STEM intensities between a region of interest to a region of the material of known composition. However, the application of this qHAADF approach requires both regions to be differentiable and included in the same micrograph at close proximity. This limits the application of this approach to certain materials and magnifications where this requirement is fulfilled. In this work, we extend the qHAADF method to analyses where the reference region is imaged in a separate micrograph. The validity of this modified method is proved by comparison to the original qHAADF approach using HAADF-STEM simulated images of the semiconductor heterostructure InSb/InAs. Additionally, the methods are applied successfully to experimental images both of a simple InSb/InAs interface and of a complex InSb/GaSb heterostructure, justifying the significance of the modified method over the original method.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by European Union (UE) (postgraduate research on dilute metamorphic nanostructures and metamaterials in semiconductor photonics (PROMIS) Horizon 2020 initial training network (ITN) project), Spanish MINECO (Projects TEC2014-53727-C2-2-R and TEC2017-86102-C2-2-R) and the Junta de Andalucía (PAI research groups TEP-946 INNANOMAT and TIC-145). Cofinancing from UE-FEDER is also acknowledged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Material Science, Metallurgical Chemistry and Inorganic Chemistry, IMEYMAT, University of Cádiz, 11510, Puerto Real, Spain

    Atif A. Khan, M. Herrera & S. I. Molina

  2. Department of Computer Engineering, ESI, University of Cádiz, 11510, Puerto Real, Spain

    J. Pizarro & P. L. Galindo

  3. Department of Engineering, Lancaster University, Lancaster, LA1 4YW, UK

    P. J. Carrington

  4. Physics Department, Lancaster University, Lancaster, LA1 4YB, UK

    H. Fujita & A. Krier

  5. Asahi Kasei Corporation, 2-1 Samejima, Fuji-City, Shizuoka, 416-8501, Japan

    H. Fujita

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  1. Atif A. Khan
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Correspondence to Atif A. Khan.

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Khan, A.A., Herrera, M., Pizarro, J. et al. Modified qHAADF method for atomic column-by-column compositional quantification of semiconductor heterostructures. J Mater Sci 54, 3230–3241 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-018-3073-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-018-3073-y

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