Sub-nanometer-scale mapping of crystal orientation and depth-dependent structure of dislocation cores in SrTiO3

Haozhi Sha; Yunpeng Ma; Guoping Cao; Jizhe Cui; Wenfeng Yang; Qian Li; Rong Yu

doi:10.1038/s41467-023-35877-7

Sub-nanometer-scale mapping of crystal orientation and depth-dependent structure of dislocation cores in SrTiO₃

Nat Commun. 2023 Jan 11;14(1):162. doi: 10.1038/s41467-023-35877-7.

Authors

Haozhi Sha^#^{1

2

3}, Yunpeng Ma^#^{1

3}, Guoping Cao^#^{1

2

3}, Jizhe Cui^#^{1

2

3}, Wenfeng Yang^{1

2

3}, Qian Li^{4

5}, Rong Yu^{6

7

8}

Affiliations

¹ School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, China.
² MOE Key Laboratory of Advanced Materials, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, China.
³ State Key Laboratory of New Ceramics and Fine Processing, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, China.
⁴ School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, China. qianli_mse@tsinghua.edu.cn.
⁵ State Key Laboratory of New Ceramics and Fine Processing, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, China. qianli_mse@tsinghua.edu.cn.
⁶ School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, China. ryu@tsinghua.edu.cn.
⁷ MOE Key Laboratory of Advanced Materials, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, China. ryu@tsinghua.edu.cn.
⁸ State Key Laboratory of New Ceramics and Fine Processing, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, China. ryu@tsinghua.edu.cn.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Defects in crystals play a fundamental role in modulating mechanical, electrical, luminescent, and magnetic behaviors of materials. However, accurate measurement of defect structures is hindered by symmetry breaking and the corresponding complex modifications in atomic configuration and/or crystal tilt at the defects. Here, we report the deep-sub-angstrom resolution imaging of dislocation cores via multislice electron ptychography with adaptive propagator, which allows sub-nanometer scale mapping of crystal tilt in the vicinity of dislocation cores and simultaneous recovery of depth-dependent atomic structure of dislocations. The realization of deep-sub-angstrom resolution and depth-dependent imaging of defects shows great potential in revealing microstructures and properties of real materials and devices.