Electron Diffraction Intensity Analysis of Amorphous Pd75Si25 Alloy Thin Film with Imaging-Plate Technique

Abstract

Atomic pair distribution function (PDF) analysis for an amorphous Pd75Si25 alloy thin film has been made by means of electron diffraction intensity measurement with the help of “imaging-plate (IP)”. This is aimed for developing a structural analysis technique using electron diffraction, which is complementary to high resolution electron microscopy (HREM) in studying amorphous alloy structures. In the diffraction intensity measurement, an intensity correction to omit the inelastic part of intensity has been performed by taking advantage of electron energy loss spectroscopy. In the PDF a subpeak for the Pd-Si correlation at the distance of 0.24 nm was clearly observed near the first mainpeak for the Pd-Pd correlation. Availability of IP in precise electron diffraction intensity measurement, therefore, has been proved. In accordance with the observed strong Pd-Si correlation and the Pd-Pd coordination number close to that of Pd3Si, a Pd3Si-like medium range order structure was clearly observed by HREM. A structure model based on the PDF and the HREM result was constructed and examined. © 1995, The Japan Institute of Metals. All rights reserved.