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A Second Amorphous Layer Underneath Surface Oxide

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 February 2017

Bin Zhang ,
Kunlin Peng ,
Xuechao Sha ,
Ang Li ,
Xiaoyuan Zhou ,
Yanhui Chen ,
QingSong Deng ,
Dingfeng Yang ,
Evan Ma  and
Xiaodong Han
Bin Zhang
Affiliation:
Beijing Key Laboratory of Microstructure and Property of Advanced Materials, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing 100024, China
Kunlin Peng
Affiliation:
College of Physics, Chongqing University, Chongqing 401331, China
Xuechao Sha
Affiliation:
Beijing Key Laboratory of Microstructure and Property of Advanced Materials, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing 100024, China
Ang Li*
Affiliation:
Beijing Key Laboratory of Microstructure and Property of Advanced Materials, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing 100024, China
Xiaoyuan Zhou
Affiliation:
College of Physics, Chongqing University, Chongqing 401331, China
Yanhui Chen
Affiliation:
Beijing Key Laboratory of Microstructure and Property of Advanced Materials, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing 100024, China
QingSong Deng
Affiliation:
Beijing Key Laboratory of Microstructure and Property of Advanced Materials, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing 100024, China
Dingfeng Yang
Affiliation:
Beijing Key Laboratory of Microstructure and Property of Advanced Materials, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing 100024, China College of Physics, Chongqing University, Chongqing 401331, China
Evan Ma*
Affiliation:
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
Xiaodong Han*
Affiliation:
Beijing Key Laboratory of Microstructure and Property of Advanced Materials, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing 100024, China
*
*Corresponding authors. ang.li@bjut.edu.cn; ema@jhu.edu; xdhan@bjut.edu.cn
*Corresponding authors. ang.li@bjut.edu.cn; ema@jhu.edu; xdhan@bjut.edu.cn
*Corresponding authors. ang.li@bjut.edu.cn; ema@jhu.edu; xdhan@bjut.edu.cn
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Abstract

Formation of a nanometer-scale oxide surface layer is common when a material is exposed to oxygen-containing environment. Employing aberration-corrected analytical transmission electron microscopy and using single crystal SnSe as an example, we show that for an alloy, a second thin amorphous layer can appear underneath the outmost oxide layer. This inner amorphous layer is not oxide based, but instead originates from solid-state amorphization of the base alloy when its free energy rises to above that of the metastable amorphous state; which is a result of the composition shift due to the preferential depletion of the oxidizing species, in our case, the outgoing Sn reacting with the oxygen atmosphere.

Keywords

surface oxidationsolid-state amorphizationSnSe single crystalhigh angle annular dark field (HAADF) imaginginterdiffusion
Type
Materials Applications
Information
Microscopy and Microanalysis , Volume 23 , Issue 1 , February 2017 , pp. 173 - 178
Copyright
© Microscopy Society of America 2017 

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