Delft University of Technology, Lorentzweg 1, NL-2628CJ Delft, The Netherlands.
Nanoscale. 2017 Aug 31;9(34):12727-12734. doi: 10.1039/c7nr00927e.
Nanomaterials can be identified in high-resolution electron microscopy images using spectrally-selective cathodoluminescence. Capabilities for multiplex detection can however be limited, e.g., due to spectral overlap or availability of filters. Also, the available photon flux may be limited due to degradation under electron irradiation. Here, we demonstrate single-pass cathodoluminescence-lifetime based discrimination of different nanoparticles, using a pulsed electron beam. We also show that cathodoluminescence lifetime is a robust parameter even when the nanoparticle cathodoluminescence intensity decays over an order of magnitude. We create lifetime maps, where the lifetime of the cathodoluminescence emission is correlated with the emission intensity and secondary-electron images. The consistency of lifetime-based discrimination is verified by also correlating the emission wavelength and the lifetime of nanoparticles. Our results show how cathodoluminescence lifetime provides an additional channel of information in electron microscopy.
纳米材料可以在高分辨率电子显微镜图像中使用光谱选择性的阴极发光进行识别。然而，多重检测的能力可能会受到限制，例如由于光谱重叠或滤波器的可用性。此外，由于电子辐照下的降解，可用的光子通量可能会受到限制。在这里，我们使用脉冲电子束演示了不同纳米粒子的单次通过阴极发光寿命的区分。我们还表明，即使纳米粒子的阴极发光强度衰减一个数量级，阴极发光寿命仍然是一个稳健的参数。我们创建了寿命图谱，其中阴极发光发射的寿命与发射强度和二次电子图像相关联。通过还关联纳米粒子的发射波长和寿命，验证了基于寿命的区分的一致性。我们的结果表明，阴极发光寿命如何在电子显微镜中提供额外的信息通道。
