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Aberration-Corrected Scanning Transmission Electron Microscope (STEM) Through-Focus Imaging for Three-Dimensional Atomic Analysis of Bismuth Segregation on Copper [001]/33° Twist Bicrystal Grain Boundaries

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 May 2016

Charles Austin Wade ,
Mark J. McLean ,
Richard P. Vinci  and
Masashi Watanabe
Charles Austin Wade*
Affiliation:
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA 18015, USA Materials Performance Centre, University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL, UK
Mark J. McLean
Affiliation:
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA 18015, USA
Richard P. Vinci
Affiliation:
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA 18015, USA
Masashi Watanabe
Affiliation:
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA 18015, USA
*
*Corresponding author. austin.wade@manchester.ac.uk
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Abstract

Scanning transmission electron microscope (STEM) through-focus imaging (TFI) has been used to determine the three-dimensional atomic structure of Bi segregation-induced brittle Cu grain boundaries (GBs). With TFI, it is possible to observe single Bi atom distributions along Cu [001] twist GBs using an aberration-corrected STEM operating at 200 kV. The depth resolution is ~5 nm. Specimens with GBs intentionally inclined with respect to the microscope’s optic axis were used to investigate Bi segregant atom distributions along and through the Cu GB. It was found that Bi atoms exist at most once per Cu unit cell along the GB, meaning that no continuous GB film is present. Therefore, the reduced fracture toughness of this particular Bi-doped Cu boundary would not be caused by fracture of Bi–Bi bonds.

Keywords

STEMaberration corrected3D atomic imagingCu–Bigrain boundary
Type
Materials Applications
Information
Microscopy and Microanalysis , Volume 22 , Issue 3 , June 2016 , pp. 679 - 689
Copyright
Copyright © Microscopy Society of America 2016

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Footnotes

†

Current address: National Institute of Standards and Technology, Materials Measurement Science Division, 100 Bureau Drive, Mailstop 8370, Gaithersburg, MD 20899, USA.

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