Improved controlled atmosphere high temperature scanning probe microscope

Probing vacancy behavior across complex oxide heterointerfaces

Oxygen vacancies ( V O • • ) play a critical role as defects in complex oxides in establishing functionality in systems including memristors, all-oxide electronics, and electrochemical cells that comprise metal-insulator-metal or complex oxide heterostructure configurations. Improving oxide-oxide interfaces necessitates a direct, spatial understanding of vacancy distributions that define electrochemically active regions. We show vacancies deplete over micrometer-level distances in Nb-doped SrTiO₃ (Nb:SrTiO₃) substrates due to deposition and post-annealing processes. We convert the surface potential across a strontium titanate/yttria-stabilized zirconia (STO/YSZ) heterostructured film to spatial (<100 nm) vacancy profiles within STO using (T = 500°C) in situ scanning probes and semiconductor analysis. Oxygen scavenging occurring during pulsed laser deposition reduces Nb:STO substantially, which partially reoxidizes in an oxygen-rich environment upon cooling. These results (i) introduce the means to spatially resolve quantitative vacancy distributions across oxide films and (ii) indicate the mechanisms by which oxide thin films enhance and then deplete vacancies within the underlying substrate.

Note: Production of stable colloidal probes for high-temperature atomic force microscopy applications

For the application of colloidal probe atomic force microscopy at high temperatures (>500 K), stable colloidal probe cantilevers are essential. In this study, two new methods for gluing alumina particles onto temperature stable cantilevers are presented and compared with an existing method for borosilicate particles at elevated temperatures as well as with cp-cantilevers prepared with epoxy resin at room temperature. The durability of the fixing of the particle is quantified with a test method applying high shear forces. The force is calculated with a mechanical model considering both the bending as well as the torsion on the colloidal probe.

High temperature conductance mapping for correlation of electrical properties with micron-sized chemical and microstructural features

High temperature AC conductance mapping is a scanning probe technique for resolving local electrical properties in microscopic areas. It is especially suited for detecting poorly conducting phases and for ionically conducting materials such as those used in solid oxide electrochemical cells. Secondary silicate phases formed at the edge of lanthanum strontium manganite microelectrodes are used as an example for correlation of chemical, microstructural and electrical properties with a spatial resolution of 1-2µm to demonstrate the technique. The measurements are performed in situ in a controlled atmosphere high temperature scanning probe microscope at 650°C in air.

A hot tip: imaging phenomena using in situ multi-stimulus probes at high temperatures

Accurate high temperature characterization of materials remains a critical challenge to the continued advancement of various important energy, nuclear, electronic, and aerospace applications. Future experimental studies must assist these communities to progress past empiricism and derive deliberate, predictable designs of material classes functioning within active, extreme environments. Successful realization of systems ranging from fuel cells and batteries to electromechanical nanogenerators and turbines requires a dynamic understanding of the excitation, surface-mediated, and charge transfer phenomena which occur at heterophase interfaces (i.e. vapor-solid, liquid-solid, solid-solid) and impact overall performance. Advancing these frontiers therefore necessitates in situ (operando) characterization methods capable of resolving, both spatially and functionally, the coherence between these complex, collective excitations, and their respective response dynamics, through studies within the operating regime. This review highlights recent developments in scanning probe microscopy in performing in situ imaging at high elevated temperatures. The influence of and evolution from vacuum-based electron and tunneling microscopy are briefly summarized and discussed. The scope includes the use of high temperature imaging to directly observe critical phase transition, electronic, and electrochemical behavior under dynamic temperature settings, thus providing key physical parameters. Finally, both challenges and directions in combined instrumentation are proposed and discussed towards the end.

Note: Fabrication of a fast-response and user-friendly environmental chamber for atomic force microscopes

The atomic force microscope is one of the most widespread tools in science, but many suppliers do not provide a competitive solution to make experiments in controlled atmospheres. Here, we provide a solution to this problem by fabricating a fast-response and user-friendly environmental chamber. We corroborate the correct functioning of the chamber by studying the formation of local anodic oxidation on a silicon sample (biased under opposite polarities), an effect that can be suppressed by measuring in a dry nitrogen atmosphere. The usefulness of this chamber goes beyond the example here presented, and it could be used in many other fields of science, including physics, mechanics, microelectronics, nanotechnology, medicine, and biology.

Dynamic behavior of impurities and native components in model LSM microelectrodes on YSZ

Energy conversion materials exhibit complex dynamic behavior when subjected to elevated temperatures and polarization.

Design and characterization of a compact nano-positioning system for a portable transmission x-ray microscope

We have designed and constructed a compact nano-positioning system for a Portable Transmission X-ray Microscope (PTXM). We introduce a concept of PTXM and adopt modular approach which implements identical nano-motion platforms to perform manipulation of PTXM components. Modular design provides higher stiffness of the system and allows for reduction of relative thermal drifts between individual constituents of the PTXM apparatus, ensuring a high degree of stability for nanoscale x-ray imaging. We have measured relative thermal drifts between two identical modules to be as low as 15 nm/h, sufficient to perform nanoscale imaging by TXM. Spatial resolution achieved by developed linear piezo stages was measured to be 3 nm with repeatability of 20 nm over 1 mm travel range.