In Situ Transmission Electron Microscopy of Gas and Liquid Reactions

In situ transmission electron microscopy is an exciting technique for visualising and quantifying materials reactions. Physical and chemical vapour deposition and even electrochemical deposition from aqueous electrolytes can be carried out inside the microscope. By recording movies while reactions take place we can measure kinetics, identify transient structures, and determine mechanisms. We will describe two experiments that illustrate some opportunities and challenges: vapour phase growth of semiconductor nanowires, and electrochemical deposition of metal clusters and dendrites. The rapid pace of evolution in microscope performance suggests that in situ microscopy can play an even more quantitative future role in physical and chemical understanding for materials design.

Bio: Frances M. Ross received her B.A. in Physics and Ph.D. in Materials Science from Cambridge University. Her postdoc was at A.T.&T. Bell Laboratories, using in situ electron microscopy to study silicon oxidation and dislocation dynamics. She then joined the National Center for Electron Microscopy, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, where she imaged anodic etching of Si. Moving to IBM's T. J. Watson Research Center, she built a program around a microscope with deposition and focused ion beam capabilities and developed closed liquid cell microscopy to image electrochemical processes. Her interests include liquid cell microscopy, epitaxy, nanowires and electrodeposition. She has been a Visiting Scientist at Lund University and an Adjunct Professor at Arizona State University. She received the UK Institute of Physics Boys Medal, the MRS Outstanding Young Investigator Award and the MSA Burton Medal, holds an Honorary Doctorate from Lund, and is a Fellow of APS, AAAS, MRS, MSA and AVS.

For further information please contact robert.ilic [at] nist.gov (Robert Ilic), 301-975-2639.