PHASE-CONTRAST IMAGES

12.10.2016
JANEZ KOIR
 CONTENTS
1. Introduction Phase-Contrast Images
2. Lattice Fringes
3. Moir Patterns
Translational Moir Patterns
Rotational Moir Patterns
Mixed Moir Fringes
Dislocations and Moir Fringes
4. Fresnel Contrast
Fresnel Contrast from Voids and Gas Bubbles
Fresnel Contrast from Grain Boundaries
Fresnel Contrast from Dislocations
INTRODUCTION TO PHASE-CONTRAST IMAGES
Phase-contrast images arise due to the differences
in the phase of electron waves scattered through a
thin sample.
This contrast mechanism is very sensitive and can
detect changes in the thickness, orientation and
scattering factor of the sample.
Its sensitivity is the reason why we can image
atomic structures of thin samples.
These images are formed by using more than one
electron beam to image of our sample.
 LATTICE FRINGES
Fringes refer to a phase-contrast phenomenon
where an image of alternate light and dark
bands is produced due to the diffraction and
interference of electron waves.
A lattice fringe is a periodic fringe in a TEM
image formed by two electron beams traveling
through the sample.
This image will show sinusoidal intensities with a
periodicity depending on several factors.
These fringes can tell us the spacing and
orientation of the lattice planes.
Fringes also correspond to an array of spots in a
diffraction pattern.
 MOIR PATTERNS
Moir patterns are formed by the interference of two sets of fringes.
There are two different types of interference between the fringes:
o Translational moir fringes
o Rotational moir fringes
If we mix these two moir fringes together we get mixed moir
fringes.
Moir fringe spacing can give us information about our crystals
even if we cannot resolve the lattice planes.
 TRANSLATIONAL MOIR FRINGES
These
fringes occur when two different fringes are parallel to each other
but have different spacing between the fringes.
We can calculate the spacing of the translational moir fringes using the
following equation:

Translational moir fringes are especially useful when characterizing

crystal properties of thin films.
 ROTATIONAL MOIR FRINGES
These
fringes occur when two different fringes
have the same spacing but are rotated at an
angle.
We can calculate the spacing of the rotational
moir fringes using the following equation:

Rotational moir fringes are sometimes

accommodated with an array of dislocations
which can complicate things when we want to
observe our sample.
 MIXED MOIR FRINGES
These
fringes occur when two different fringes
have different spacing and are also rotated at
an angle.
We can calculate the spacing of the mixed
moir fringes using the following equation:
 DISLOCATIONS AND MOIR FRINGES
We can use moir fringes to locate and obtain
information about dislocations within our
sample.
The resulting images of these moir fringes
appear as a magnified view of the projection
of the dislocation.
These images can be directly related to the
Burgers vector of the dislocation.
This analysis works even if we have multiple
terminating dislocations.
 FRESNEL CONTRAST
An image of the Fresnel fringes is created every time we operate the TEM
out of focus.
They are created due to the abrupt changes of the inner potential in our
sample.
Because the objective lens is focused close to the sample, we say that we
are operating in the near-field or Fresnel regime.
 FRESNEL CONTRAST FROM VOIDS AND GAS BUBBLES
We can observe voids and small gas-filled
cavities by defocusing the image and observing
the Fresnel contrast.
The contrast will depend on the difference in the
inner potential of the matrix and the cavity. The
most contrast is obtained from vacuum filled
cavities.
When the image is in focus the cavities will
appear invisible.
This technique can also be applied to voids filled
with a liquid or solid (second phase).
 FRESNEL CONTRAST FROM GRAIN BOUNDARIES
To image grain boundaries using Fresnel fringes we must
first orient the boundary in the edge-on position so that we
can probe the inner potential at the grain boundary.
The difference in the inner potential comes from the fact
that real TEM samples are usually thinner at the grain
boundary which changes the inner potential at the
boundary.
This technique can also be used to image phase boundaries.
 SUMMARY
Phase-contrast occurs whenever we have more than one beam
contributing to the image.
Fringes can tell us the spacing and orientation of the lattice planes.
Moir patterns are formed by the interference of two sets of fringes.
They can tell us information about our crystal structure and the presence
of any defects
An image of the Fresnel fringes is created every time we operate the TEM
out of focus.
We can use them to image different defects within a sample such as voids
and grain boundaries.