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Method · TEM

Transmission electron microscopy in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany

Local structure and interfaces in an electron-transparent specimen, with diffraction or spectroscopy when configured. What it answers, what it cannot establish on its own, what a laboratory will ask, and how many Dutch, Belgian and German facilities publish it.

Preparing a thin specimen usually alters the sample; electron damage is possible

What it answers

  • What is the structure of a layer or interface at nanometre to atomic scale?
  • Are there voids, defects, grain boundaries or an interlayer at an interface?
  • What crystal structure or elemental distribution does a nanoscale region have?

What it cannot establish alone

  • Represent the whole component or batch from one thin specimen; the sampled region is very small.
  • Give an unambiguous three-dimensional structure from one projection.
  • Establish elemental composition or bonding from an image alone; suitable EDX, EELS or diffraction measurements may be needed.
  • Exclude preparation artefacts or beam-induced changes without appropriate controls.

Before you contact a laboratory

What a laboratory will ask.

A laboratory can say whether it can help only when these are known. Unknowns are fine; say so.

  • Layer stack or material, the precise region of interest and its expected dimensions.
  • Cross-section or plan view, and whether a suitable thin specimen already exists.
  • Whether cutting and thinning are allowed, and whether the material is sensitive to air, ions or electrons.
  • The required result: images, diffraction, elemental maps or bonding information; reference and replicate specimens.

A question a laboratory can answer

A 20 nm oxide between a metal contact and silicon may have partly crystallised during annealing. We need a cross-section from one annealed and one reference sample, with elemental mapping across the interface.

Potential Dutch, Belgian and German facilities

97 facilities publish TEM capability in Berlin, Dresden, Hannover, Hamburg, Planegg, Aachen, Bayreuth, Braunschweig, Düsseldorf, Eindhoven, Heidelberg, Köln, Leipzig, Mülheim an der Ruhr, Potsdam, Rostock, Tübingen, Amsterdam, Antwerp, Bad Nauheim, Bochum, Bonn, Delft, Denkendorf, Diepenbeek, Dortmund, Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen, Enschede, Essen, Frankfurt (Oder), Frankfurt am Main, Freiberg, Freiburg, Garching, Geesthacht, Ghent, Gießen, Greifswald, Groningen, Halle, Halle (Saale), Jena, Jülich, Karlsruhe, Kiel, Leiden, Louvain-la-Neuve, Maastricht, Magdeburg, Mainz, Marburg, Münster, Namur, Nijmegen, Oldenburg, Osnabrück, Paderborn, Petten, Potsdam-Golm, Saarbrücken, Stuttgart, Ulm, Utrecht, Wageningen and Würzburg.

Leads are based on published capabilities; current suitability and availability must be confirmed with the laboratory.

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