Abstract
We propose an extension to the technique of fluctuation electron microscopy that quantitatively measures a medium-range order correlation length in amorphous materials. In both simulated images from computer-generated paracrystalline amorphous silicon models and experimental images of amorphous silicon, we find that the spatial autocorrelation function of dark-field transmission electron micrographs of amorphous materials exhibits a simple exponential decay. The decay length measures a nanometre-scale structural correlation length in the sample, although it also depends on the microscope resolution. We also propose a new interpretation of the fluctuation microscopy image variance in terms of fluctuations in local atomic pair distribution functions.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | S2425-S2435 |
Journal | Journal of Physics Condensed Matter |
Volume | 15 |
Issue number | 31 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Aug 13 2003 |
Externally published | Yes |
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- General Materials Science
- Condensed Matter Physics