Characterization of helium bubble size and faceting by electron holography

Etienne Snoeck (1) , Jérôme Majimel (2, 3) , M. O. Ruault (4) , Martin Hÿtch (1, 3)

1 CEMES - Centre d'élaboration de matériaux et d'études structurales
2 ICMCB - Institut de Chimie de la Matière Condensée de Bordeaux
3 UMR GESTE - Gestion Territoriale de l'Eau et de l'environnement
4 CSNSM - Centre de Spectrométrie Nucléaire et de Spectrométrie de Masse

Iron-9% chromium alloy of controlled purity and microstructure was helium implanted and studied using transmission electron microscopy and electron holography (EH). Fresnel imaging is compared with electron holography for a set of identical helium bubbles of size 2–4 nm. Electron holography reveals that the bubbles are, in fact, faceted and the lateral and projected dimensions of the cavities are measured. Current measurements allow the detection of 1 nm diameter bubbles using EH. The merits of conventional and holographic techniques are discussed and future improvements anticipated. Electron holography seems to be the ideal technique for investigating the morphology of helium bubbles and cavities in general.

Mots clés: Direct observation of dislocations and other defects; Transmission electron microscopy; Electron holography

Domaines: Matériaux

Etienne Snoeck, Jérôme Majimel, M. O. Ruault, Martin Hÿtch. Characterization of helium bubble size and faceting by electron holography. Journal of Applied Physics, 2006, 100 (2), 023519 (5 p.). ⟨10.1063/1.2216791⟩. ⟨hal-00090302⟩