2018-2019 Pier Giorgio Merli (S)TEM SCHOOL IN MATERIALS SCIENCE

The “Pier Giorgio Merli” Transmission Electron Microscopy School, jointly organised by SISM and CNR-IMM, has gained its 7th edition. As in previous editions, in two full weeks, following a well tested series of theoretical and practical lessons, the School will provide students and researchers with a qualified introduction to Transmission and Scanning Transmission Electron Microscopy techniques for materials science.

        The first theoretical part of the School (November 19-23, 2018) will start with a presentation of the elements of electron optics needed to introduce the TEM/STEM working principles and will continue with a comprehensive lesson on radiation damage to warn the students of the downsides and the possible artefacts of these powerful investigation techniques. Some essential aspects of the theory of the electron diffraction will then be used to describe the elastic interaction of the electron beam with the crystalline sample and the electron microscopy techniques that immediately follow: Selected Area and Convergent Beam Electron Diffraction (SAED and CBED). Examples of their application for crystallographic phases identification and strain determination will be illustrated. Basic crystallography notions will be also recalled in a specific lesson. The contrast mechanisms in TEM and STEM (diffraction, phase and mass-thickness) will be successively presented for their importance in studies of lattice defects, nanoparticles and nanotubes in solids and devices. In recent year, TEM/STEM imaging techniques have attained atomic resolution for all the materials of interest in materials science. In our course, a unique theory of image formation will be used to describe both the coherent (HREM) and incoherent (HAADF-STEM) approach to these high resolution techniques. The main aspects of the inelastic interaction of the electron beam with the sample will be presented to describe the two essential analytical techniques for compositional analysis: EDS and EELS. Finally, electron holography and interferometric methods will be introduced to show either the possibility to record the phase of the electron wave and to determine electric potential variations inside the samples or as alternative techniques in phase analysis and strain determination.

        In the second week (February 4-8, 2019), what learnt during the first half of the school will be put into practice. Students, under teacher’s supervision, will be allowed to directly operate on the 200 kV Schottky FEG TEM-STEM (FEI Tecnai F20 ST) installed at the CNR-IMM Institute. During this week, students will be also trained to the use of some of the available simulation and data processing software essential for TEM/STEM work. Selected presentations of new products by representatives of TEM/STEM manufacturers, sample preparation instruments and accessories for electron microscopy are also planned.

        At the end of the School a certificate of attendance will be given to all the participants and upon request a certificate of the acquired skills, that may be also used for obtaining academic credits, may be issued after passing a written examination.

As participation to the School is open to people from all countries the official language is English.

Important notice: participants may choose to attend either the whole course or the theoretical part only (it is not possible to register for the practical course only). As to the practical course, to guarantee enough operating time to all the students, the maximum number of participants is limited to 10. The School will take place only if a minimum number of 6 registrations to both the theoretical and practical courses will be reached.