Non-monotonic material contrast in scanning ion and scanning electron images.

30keV Ga(+) focused ion beam induced secondary electron (iSE) imaging was used to determine the relative contrast between several materials. The iSE signal compared from C, Si, Al, Ti, Cr, Ni, Cu, Mo, Ag, and W metal layers does not decrease with an increase in target atomic number Z(2), and shows a non-monotonic relationship between contrast and Z(2). The non-monotonic relationship is attributed to periodic fluctuations of the stopping power and sputter yield inherent to the ion-solid interactions.

Direct observations of atomic diffusion by scanning transmission electron microscopy.

The feasibility of using a high-resolution scanning transmission electron microscope to study the diffusion of heavy atoms on thin film substrates of low atomic number has been investigated. We have shown that it is possible to visualize the diffusion of individual uranium atoms adsorbed to thin carbon film substrates and that the observed motion of the atoms does not appear to be induced by the incident electron beam.