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The ability to probe and control matter at the picometer scale is essential for advancing quantum and energy technologies. Scanning transmission electron microscopy offers powerful capabilities for materials analysis and modification, but sample damage, drift, and scan distortions hinder single atom analysis and deterministic manipulation. Materials analysis and modification via electron–solid interactions can be transformed by precise delivery of electrons to a specified atomic location, maintaining the beam position despite drift, and minimizing collateral dose. Here a fast, low‐dose, sub‐20‐pm precision electron beam positioning technique is developed, “atomic lock‐on,” (ALO), which offers the ability to position the beam on a specific atomic columnwithoutpreviously irradiating that column. This technique is used to lock onto a single selected atomic location to repeatedly measure its weak electron energy loss signal despite sample drift. Moreover, electron beam‐matter interactions in single atomic events are measured with time resolution. This enables observation of single‐atom dynamics, such as atomic bistability, revealing partially bonded atomic configurations and recapture phenomena. This opens prospects for using electron microscopy for high‐precision measurements and deterministic control of matter for quantum technologies.
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Mending cracks atom-by-atom in rutile TiO2 with electron beam radiolysis
Rich electron-matter interactions fundamentally enable electron probe studies of materials such as scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM). Inelastic interactions often result in structural modifications of the material, ultimately limiting the quality of electron probe measurements. However, atomistic mechanisms of inelastic-scattering-driven transformations are difficult to characterize. Here, we report direct visualization of radiolysis-driven restructuring of rutile TiO2under electron beam irradiation. Using annular dark field imaging and electron energy-loss spectroscopy signals, STEM probes revealed the progressive filling of atomically sharp nanometer-wide cracks with striking atomic resolution detail. STEM probes of varying beam energy and precisely controlled electron dose were found to constructively restructure rutile TiO2according to a quantified radiolytic mechanism. Based on direct experimental observation, a “two-step rolling” model of mobile octahedral building blocks enabling radiolysis-driven atomic migration is introduced. Such controlled electron beam-induced radiolytic restructuring can be used to engineer novel nanostructures atom-by-atom.
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- PAR ID:
- 10499549
- Publisher / Repository:
- Nature Portfolio
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Nature Communications
- Volume:
- 14
- Issue:
- 1
- ISSN:
- 2041-1723
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
-
Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-41781-x
