Determination of two-particle structure factors from elemental maps

Physikalisches Institut and Interdisziplinäres Centrum für Elektronenmikroskopie und Mikroanalyse (ICEM), University of Münster, Wilhelm-Klemm-Strasse 10, 48149 Münster, Germany

^a e-mail: carsten.kreyenschulte@uni-muenster.de

Received: 17 September 2010
Accepted: 30 November 2010
Published online: 7 June 2011

Abstract

The structure of crystals can be described by defining size and shape of a unit cell and the positions of the atoms within it. Many materials, however, exhibit a glassy or amorphous structure. Such disordered structures are described by structure factors. These are usually determined by small angle scattering experiments. The angular distribution recorded in these experiments is related to the structure factor. In this work we present an alternative approach using elemental maps obtained in an energy filtering transmission electron microscope. In this way we can even obtain chemically resolved partial structure factors giving additional information on the specimen.