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Understanding of scanning-system distortions of atomic-scale scanning transmission electron microscopy images for accurate lattice parameter measurements

  • Ceramics
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Abstract

Atomic-scale scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) imaging has opened up the possibility of studying the local lattice parameters of crystalline materials. To ensure more accurate measurements, low-frequency distortions of the images should be properly calibrated, which requires a better understanding of their causes. Although the major possible causes are sample drift and the scanning systems of microscopes, their effects are intricate because the rates of sample drifts differ in respective measurements. In the present study, low-frequency distortions of STEM images and their dependence on scan rotations were evaluated by measuring the lattice parameters of a reference specimen, strontium titanate. The distortions due to sample drifts and the scanning system of a microscope were separately calculated and corrected using affine transformations. In the as-observed images, the length scales in the x and y directions were underestimated by 0.4–1.2% and 2.7–3.6%, respectively, with shear distortions of 0.6°–1.2°, and the magnitudes of the underestimation and shear distortions were dependent on the scan rotations. On the basis of these findings, a methodology was proposed for the correction of distortions for accurate measurement of the lattice parameters of materials.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by JSPS KAKENHI (Grant Numbers JP18H01710 and JP18K18952), by the JSPS-DST bilateral joint research program, and by JST CREST, Japan (Grant Number JPMJCR18R2). Experiments were conducted at the Ultramicroscopy Center, Kyushu University. The authors would like to thank Tiffany Jain, M.S., from Edanz Group (www.edanzediting.com/ac) for editing a draft of this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Kyushu University, 744 Motooka, Nishi-ku, Fukuoka, 819-0395, Japan

    Syota Fujinaka, Yukio Sato, Ryo Teranishi & Kenji Kaneko

Authors
  1. Syota Fujinaka
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  2. Yukio Sato
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  3. Ryo Teranishi
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  4. Kenji Kaneko
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Contributions

This project was conceived by YS and SF. YS prepared the specimens for STEM observations and S.F. carried out the STEM observations and performed the data analysis. SF and YS developed the two-step affine transformation method. SF, YS, RT, and KK wrote the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Yukio Sato.

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Fujinaka, S., Sato, Y., Teranishi, R. et al. Understanding of scanning-system distortions of atomic-scale scanning transmission electron microscopy images for accurate lattice parameter measurements. J Mater Sci 55, 8123–8133 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-020-04602-w

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-020-04602-w

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