• 文献标题:   Signatures of distinct impurity configurations in atomic-resolution valence electron-energy-loss spectroscopy: Application to graphene
  • 文献类型:   Article
  • 作  者:   KAPETANAKIS MD, OXLEY MP, ZHOU W, PENNYCOOK SJ, IDROBO JC, PANTELIDES ST
  • 作者关键词:  
  • 出版物名称:   PHYSICAL REVIEW B
  • ISSN:   2469-9950 EI 2469-9969
  • 通讯作者地址:   Vanderbilt Univ
  • 被引频次:   3
  • DOI:   10.1103/PhysRevB.94.155449
  • 出版年:   2016

▎ 摘  要

The detection and identification of impurities and other point defects in materials is a challenging task. Signatures for point defects are typically obtained using spectroscopies without spatial resolution. Here we demonstrate the power of valence electron-energy-loss spectroscopy (VEELS) in an aberration-corrected scanning transmission-electronmicroscope (STEM) to provide energy-resolved and atomically resolved maps of electronic excitations of individual impurities which, combined with theoretical simulations, yield unique signatures of distinct bonding configurations of impurities. We report VEELS maps for isolated Si impurities in graphene, which are known to exist in two distinct configurations. We also report simulations of the maps, based on density functional theory and dynamical scattering theory, which agree with and provide direct interpretation of observed features. We show that theoretical VEELS maps exhibit distinct and unambiguous signatures for the threefold-and fourfold-coordinated configurations of Si impurities in different energy-loss windows, corresponding to impurity-induced bound states, resonances, and antiresonances. With the advent of new monochromators and detectors with high energy resolution and lowsignal-to-noise ratio, the present work ushers an atomically resolved STEM-based spectroscopy of individual impurities as an alternative to conventional spectroscopies for probing impurities and defects.