Computation of contrasts in atomic resolution electron spectroscopic images of planar defects in crystalline specimens

The image obtained in a conventional transmission electron microscope contains contributions from elastically and from inelastically scattered electrons. The electron spectroscopic imaging mode of an energy-filtering transmission electron microscope allows us to separate these two different contributions by inserting an energy-selecting slit in the energy-dispersive plane of an imaging energy filter. Selecting a specific energy loss corresponding to the ionization of the inner shell of a particular element one can obtain information on the distribution of the element within the specimen. The contrast is then caused by inelastically scattered electrons. For crystalline specimens, however, the contrast will be influenced additionally by the elastic contrast. This elastic contrast arises from electron diffraction and increases with increasing crystal thickness. Therefore the intensity distribution in the image cannot directly be interpreted as an elemental map. For a reliable interpretation of contrast formation in elemental maps it is therefore necessary to compute theoretical energy-loss images for various crystal thicknesses and compare these images with the experimental images. As an example we discuss the influence of electron diffraction effects on energy-loss images of two crystals with planar defects. Linescans are computed for various thicknesses of these crystals. Our calculations are performed using first-order perturbation theory to describe the transitions between the Bloch-wave states of the incident electron. The computed linescans for various crystal thicknesses show clearly that the influence of the elastic contrast on an image increases when we investigate thicker specimens. Furthermore, the comparison between elastic and energy-loss images demonstrates the partial preservation of the elastic contrast as a function of thickness. We find that for specimens thicker than about one third of the extinction length (here ∼80–100 Å) it is impossible to interpret an energy-loss image directly as elemental map.