Electron diffraction

Abstract: FOLLOWING the discovery of C60(ref. 1) and the advent of fullerene chemistry, considerable attention has been directed towards the associated cylindrical2,3 and polyhedral4,5 forms of graphite. To date, however, observations of such closed structures have been limited to the carbon system. Here we report the formation of equivalent stable structures in the layered semiconductor tungsten disulphide. After the heating of thin tungsten films in an atmosphere of hydrogen sulphide, transmission electron microscopy reveals a variety of concentric polyhedral and cylindrical structures (ranging in size from 100 nm) growing from the amorphous tungsten matrix. The closed nature of the structures is verified by electron diffraction and lattice imaging. As with the carbon system, complete closure of the tungsten disulphide layers requires the presence of structural defects (for example, edge dislocations), or the arrangement of atoms in polyhedra other than a planar hexagonal geometry.

Abstract: Transmission electron microscopy and electron diffraction are used to study the changes in morphology of composite films of poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) and a methanofullerene derivative (PCBM) in bulk heterojunction solar cells. Thermal annealing produces and stabilizes a nanoscale interpenetrating network with crystalline order for both components. P3HT forms long, thin conducting nanowires in a rather homogeneous, nanocrystalline PCBM film. Both the improved crystalline nature of films and increased but controlled demixing between the two constitutes therein after annealing explains the considerable increase of the power conversion efficiency observed in these devices.

Abstract: A low temperature thermal cleaning method for Si molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) is proposed. This method consists of wet chemical treatment to eliminate carbon contaminants on Si substrates, thin oxide film formation to protect the clean Si surface from contamination during processing before MBE growth, and desorption of the thin oxide film under UHV. The passivative oxide can be removed at temperatures below 800°C. It is confirmed that Si epitaxial growth can take place on substrates cleaned by this method and that high quality Si layers with dislocations of fewer than 100/cm2 and high mobility comparable to good bulk materials are formed. Surface cleanliness, the nature of thin passivative oxide films, and cleaning processes are also studied by using such surface analytic methods as Auger electron spectroscopy, reflection high energy electron diffraction, and x‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy.

Abstract: This paper provides a brief introduction to the theory and practice of low-energy electron diffraction, a tcchnique which is proving useful for investigating the structure of surfaces. Emphasis is given to clean well-defined surfaces which are studied also with Auger electron spectroscopy and under conditions of ultra-high vacuum. Knowledge of surface structure is of fundamental and technological interest, and, although only two-dimensional periodicities in surface regions are obtained directly from diffraction patterns, even this has led to the discovery of unexpected structural arrangements. Recently there has been substantial progress in the understanding of diffracted beam intensities, and procedures are reviewed for extracting surface structures from measured intensities.