Correlative STEM and APT for the study of polar topologies in multiferroic thin films
- Abstract number
- 50
- Presentation Form
- Poster
- DOI
- 10.22443/rms.mmc2023.50
- Corresponding Email
- [email protected]
- Session
- Poster Session Three
- Authors
- Mr Geri Topore (1), Prof Baptiste Gault (2, 1), Dr. Michele Conroy (1)
- Affiliations
-
1. Imperial College London
2. Max-Planck-Institut für Eisenforschung GmbH
- Keywords
Atom Probe Tomography
Transmission Electron Microscopy
Correlative studies
Technique Development
Multiferroics
- Abstract text
Atom probe tomography (APT) is a microscopy and microanalysis technique that can map the distribution of each element in small volumes of materials with near-atomic precision. A new facility at Imperial College London is being set up to allow for facile transfer, under controlled atmosphere, of specimens from the atom probe into a transmission electron microscope, allowing for precise imaging of atom probe specimens. In the study of complex materials systems, such as multilayer thin films, the specimen can possess complex structures that cause the evaporation rates and mechanisms of different layers to be non-trivial, hence hindering the spatial precision of the data reconstruction. This project will perform both interrupted atom probe experiments to acquire specimen shapes by electron microscopy and feed these into a mesoscopic model to improve reconstruction protocols, doing so in the context of multilayer thin film magnetoelectric multiferroic materials. APT’s unique 3D characterization capabilities and atomic-resolution STEM will be used to analyse magnetic cation segregation around crystallographic defects which gives rise to complex topologies such as 3D polar vortices1. Understanding the formation of these topologies and their control using defect engineering will create exciting prospects for the use of these materials for new low-power nanoelectronics.
- References
1. Conroy, M. et al. 3D-Atomic-Scale Analysis of Magnetoelectric Multiferroic Topologies via Scanning Transmission Electron Microscopy and Spectroscopy Complemented by Atom Probe Tomography. Microsc. Microanal. 28, 736–737 (2022).