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Ultrathin Carbon Support Films for High-Resolution Electron Microscopy of Nanoparticles

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 May 2007

Young-Min Kim ,
Ji-Sun Kang ,
Ji-Soo Kim ,
Jong-Man Jeung ,
Jeong-Yong Lee  and
Youn-Joong Kim
Young-Min Kim
Affiliation:
Division of Electron Microscopic Research, Korea Basic Science Institute, 52 Yeoeun-dong, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon 305-333, Korea Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, 373-1 Guseong-dong, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon 305-701, Korea
Ji-Sun Kang
Affiliation:
Division of Electron Microscopic Research, Korea Basic Science Institute, 52 Yeoeun-dong, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon 305-333, Korea
Ji-Soo Kim
Affiliation:
Division of Electron Microscopic Research, Korea Basic Science Institute, 52 Yeoeun-dong, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon 305-333, Korea
Jong-Man Jeung
Affiliation:
Division of Electron Microscopic Research, Korea Basic Science Institute, 52 Yeoeun-dong, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon 305-333, Korea
Jeong-Yong Lee
Affiliation:
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, 373-1 Guseong-dong, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon 305-701, Korea
Youn-Joong Kim
Affiliation:
Division of Electron Microscopic Research, Korea Basic Science Institute, 52 Yeoeun-dong, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon 305-333, Korea
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Abstract

We introduce a simple preparation method for ultrathin carbon support films that is especially useful for high-resolution electron microscopy (HREM) of nanoparticles. Oxidized iron nanoparticles were used as a test sample in a demonstration of this method. The film qualities are discussed on the basis of electron-energy-loss spectroscopy (EELS) and image analysis techniques such as thickness maps and histograms. We carried out a comparison between the homemade and commercial film qualities. The relative thickness of the homemade support films was 0.6 times less than that of the commercial films, which was calculated from the EELS analysis, whereas the thicknesses of both carbon support films varied within about 3%. The percentage of the observable area was about 67 ± 7.6% of the support film. This was about twice as large as the commercial film (32 ± 9.3%). The HREM image of the sample prepared with our support film improved 9% in brightness and 15% in contrast compared with images obtained with the commercial support.

Keywords

carbonsupport filmHREMnanoparticleEELS
Type
MATERIALS APPLICATIONS
Information
Microscopy and Microanalysis , Volume 13 , Issue 4 , August 2007 , pp. 285 - 290
Copyright
© 2007 Microscopy Society of America

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