Elastic constants of Si crystal determined by thermal diffuse electron scattering

The method of determining elastic constants of crystals by measuring thermal diffuse X-ray scattering around some Bragg reflections, is extended to measuring thermal diffuse electron scattering for the first time, in a transmission electron microscope, equipped with a field-emission gun, an Ω-type energy filter and a multi-scan charge-coupled device. Quantitative diffuse electron scattering in the vicinity of the (10 6̄ 0) Bragg reflection was measured on a Si crystal in order to obtain information about elastic constants. Values of the elastic constants ratios C12/C11=0.4246, C44/C11=0.4707 obtained by simplex fitting method are consistent with the values C12/C11=0.3856, C44/C11=0.4804 determined by other traditional methods. This method may be expected to open a new route to measuring elastic constants of polycrystalline, nanometer-scaled and composite materials.