The surface diffusion of silver under high resolution imaging conditions

Abstract

Under the conditions of intense electron irradiation required for the recording of high resolution images, thin films of silver and small particles of silver grown epitaxially on MgO smoke particles show considerable mobility. The evidence suggests rapid variations in the shapes of the particles and in the contact angles made with the MgO surface and transport of material across the surfaces of the MgO crystals and silver films. From measurements of lattice fringe spacings and from microdiffraction patterns obtained in a STEM instrument it is shown that the electron irradiation leads to the formation of silver oxide, Ag 2O, which is mobile under the electron beam. Indications from microdiffraction patterns suggest the presence of a disordered intermediate material in very thin layers on MgO surfaces.