This project supports the acquisition of a high energy resolution electron spectrometer to be installed on an electron microscope whose energy spread has been sharpened by a gun monochromator. The combined system will be capable of performing spectroscopic analysis with 100-500 millivolt energy resolution and 0.2-2nm spatial resolution, allowing optical, compositional and electronic structure to be determined from not only individual nanostructures, but also individual defects, interfaces or atomic columns inside those nanostructures. The primary thrust of research with this new spectrometer is to explore how electronic structure at small length scales affects the macroscopic properties of materials, particularly interface-dominated transport properties, atomic-scale defects and dopants in nano-devices, and interfaces in molecular electronics.
The instrument will be part of the Cornell Center for Materials Science (CCMR) and be accessible to researchers and students across the campus as well as from other universities, and government and industrial laboratories. The new instrument complements the current instrumentation in CCMR with new techniques including millivolt-resolution core and valence spectroscopy, exit wave reconstructions and also energy-filtered quantitative electron diffraction from probes as small as 0.2 nm. Students will be trained in the use of these sophisticated capabilities, including in a course on nanocharacterization and substantial undergraduate research opportunities will be offered. Programs on spectroscopy in physics, including a simple spectrometer that can be built by teens, will be developed for high school teachers.
This project will purchase an electron spectrometer to be installed on an electron microscope. We will explore how structure at small length scales affects the macroscopic, everyday properties of materials. This is most important at interfaces, where two materials join, and the success or failure of a modern device, be it a turbine blade or a transistor, depends on changes that occur in a few atomic layers. The new instrument will be capable of studying these phenomena at that level of detail, allowing optical, compositional and electronic properties to be determined from individual defects, interfaces, and nanodevices. The instrument will be part of the Cornell Center for Materials Science which provides support for interdisciplinary research and instrument access to researchers and students across campus as well as from other universities, and government and industrial laboratories. As part of the broader impact of this project, students will be trained in the use of this sophisticated tool, including a new course offering. High school physics teachers will be instructed in introducing some of this instrumentation to their students.
