Interconnection of nanoparticles within 2D superlattices of PbS/oleic acid thin films.

Make it connected! 2D close-packed layers of inorganic nanoparticles are interconnected by organic fibrils of oleic acid as clearly visualized by electron holography. These fibrils can be mineralised by PbS to transform an organic-inorganic framework to a completely interconnected inorganic semiconducting 2D array.

Electron holography for fields in solids: problems and progress.

Electron holography initially was invented by Dennis Gabor for solving the problems raised by the aberrations of electron lenses in Transmission Electron Microscopy. Nowadays, after hardware correction of aberrations allows true atomic resolution of the structure, for comprehensive understanding of solids, determination of electric and magnetic nanofields is the most challenging task. Since fields are phase objects in the TEM, electron holography is the unrivaled method of choice. After more than 40 years of experimental realization and steady improvement, holography is increasingly contributing to these highly sophisticated and essential questions in materials science, as well to the understanding of electron waves and their interaction with matter.

Imaging modes for potential mapping in semiconductor devices by electron holography with improved lateral resolution.

Electron holography is the highest resolving tool for dopant profiling at nanometre-scale resolution. In order to measure the object areas of interest in a hologram, both a wide field of view and a sufficient lateral resolution are required. The usual path of rays for recording holograms with an electron biprism using the standard objective lens does not meet these requirements, because the field of view amounts to some 10 nm only, however, at a resolution of 0.1 nm better than needed here. Therefore, instead of the standard objective lens, the Lorentz lens is widely used for holography of semiconductors, since it provides a field of view up to 1000 nm at a sufficient lateral resolution of about 10nm. Since the size of semiconductor structures is steadily shrinking, there is now a need for better lateral resolution at an appropriate field of view. Therefore, additional paths of rays for recording holograms are studied with special emphasis on the parameters field of view and lateral resolution. The findings allow an optimized scheme with a field of view of 200 nm and a lateral resolution of 3.3 nm filling the gap between the existing set-ups. In addition, the Lorentz lens is no longer required for investigation of non-magnetic materials, since the new paths of rays are realized with the standard objective lens and diffraction lens. An example proves the applicability of this arrangement for future semiconductor technology.