Oxygen filling voids and direct element imaging of metastable ZnSb structures by aberration-corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy. (December 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Wang, Guoxiang; Lotnyk, Andriy; Li, Chao; Shen, Xiang
• Is Part Of: Scripta materialia. Number 157(2018)
• Page Start: 115
• Page End: 119
• Publication Date: 2018-12
• Subjects: Thin films -- High-angle annular dark field (HAADF) -- Scanning/transmission electron microscopy (STEM) -- Diffusion -- Microstructure; Materials -- Periodicals; Metallurgy -- Periodicals; Metalen; Legeringen; Materiaalkunde; Metals, metalworking and machinery industries; Metals; Electronic journals; 620.11
• DOI: 10.1016/j.scriptamat.2018.08.010
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1359-6462

Abstract

Abstract: Void formation in metastable ZnSb structures has yet to be investigated. We developed a technique to fill voids caused by Sb diffusion, through the introduction of oxygen dopants into the metastable ZnSb phase. This filling of voids enables their role in phase-change processes to be accurately investigated. Our scanning transmission electron microscopy investigations showed that oxygen dopants repaired voids through recovery of bond connectivity. This approach stabilizes a metastable phase and avoids the metastable-to-stable phase transformation. Our characterization of void defects sheds light on the long-standing puzzle of the metastable-to-stable phase transition mechanism. Graphical abstract: Unlabelled Image