Tiny Bubbles: Combined HR(S)TEM and 4D-STEM Analysis of Sub-Nanometer He Bubbles in Au
Source abstract
Abstract
ABSTRACT Irradiation produces a distribution of defect sizes in materials, with the smallest defects often below one nanometer in size and approaching the scale of a single unit cell in metals. While high-resolution scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM)-based imaging can directly image structures at this level, techniques such as four-dimensional STEM (4D-STEM) enable characterization of materials across large fields of view, capturing a more representative volume that can be valuable for quantifying defects, their distributions, and the associated strain fields. Here we present a combined HRSTEM and 4D-STEM approach to study the model system of He bubble implantation in an Au thin film. The present work is of general interest for the study of materials in extreme environments, as it demonstrates an effective way to characterize even the tiniest sub-nanometer sized He bubbles in addition to larger irradiation defects.
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Research context
OpenAlex topics: nanoparticles nucleation surface interactions · Fusion materials and technologies · Advanced Electron Microscopy Techniques and Applications
SciVX discovery tags are terminology-based. OpenAlex topics are source-provided classifications.
Affiliations
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Hearst Memorial Mining Building, University of California , Berkeley, CA 94720 ,
National Center for Electron Microscopy, Molecular Foundry, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory , One Cyclotron Road, Berkeley, CA 94720 ,
Erich Schmid Institute of Materials Science , Austrian Academy of Sciences, Jahnstraße 12, Leoben 8700 ,
Materials Science and Technology, Los Alamos National Laboratory , P.O. Box 1663, Los Alamos, NM 87545 ,
Department of Nuclear Engineering, University of Tennessee , 823 Neyland Drive, Knoxville, TN 37996 ,
Department of Nuclear Engineering, University of California , 4153 Etcheverry Hall, Berkeley, CA 94720 ,
Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of California , 6141 Etcheverry Hall, Berkeley, CA 94720 ,
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