R.F. Egerton

Professor Emeritus
Department of Physics, University of Alberta

B.A., MA., Cambridge University

Ph.D., Imperial College, London

curriculum vitae

E-mail: egerton@phys.ualberta.ca

Downloadable computer programs
Downloadable preprints
MICRON journal: instructions to authors
, web-based manuscript submission: http://ees.elsevier.com/jmic

LINKS TO COURSE NOTES:

Elementary Quantum Physics
Physical Principles of Electron Microscopy


BOOKS: R.F. Egerton, Physical Principles of Electron Microscopy
($US70, Springer, 2005; ISBN-10: 0-387-25800-0 ; ISBN-13: 978-0387-25800-0)

R.F. Egerton, Electron Energy-Loss Spectroscopy in the Electron Microscope
(Plenum/Springer, 1996; ISBN-10: 0-306-45223-5)

Some Recent Publications

R.F. Egerton, F. Wang, M. Malac, M.S. Moreno and F. Hofer Fourier-ratio deconvolution and its Bayesian equivalent. Micron 39 (2008) 642–647

R.F. Egerton, Limits to the spatial, energy and momentum resolution of electron energy-loss spectroscopy. Ultramicroscopy 107 (2007) 575-586

Ko-Feng Chen, Shen-Chuan Lo, Li Chang, Ray Egerton, Ji-Jung Kai, Juhn-Jong Lin and Fu-Rong Chen Valence state map of iron oxide thin film obtained from electron spectroscopy imaging series. Micron 38 (2007) 354–361

Ray F. Egerton, Feng Wang and Peter A. Crozier, Beam-induced damage to thin specimens in an intense electron probe. Microscopy and Microanalysis 12 (2006) 65-71

R.F. Egerton, Hui Qian and Marek Malac, Improving the energy resolution of x-ray and electron energy-loss spectra. Micron 37 (2006) 310-315.

R.F. Egerton and M. Malac, EELS in the TEM. J. Electron Spectrosc. & Rel. Phenom. 143 (2005) 43-50

R.F. Egerton, P. Li and M. Malac, Radiation damage in the TEM and SEM. Micron 354 (2004) 399-409

R.F. Egerton, New techniques in electron energy-loss spectroscopy. Micron 34 (2003) 127-129

More complete list of publications

Current research (with Dr. M. Malac, National Institute for Nanotechnology):

ANALYTICAL ELECTRON MICROSCOPY

NINT operates a Hitachi 300kV CFEG-TEM (with GIF energy-analysis system and holography facilities) and a JEOL 200kV omega-filter machine with cryo-stage (for soft materials research).

The Department of Physics has a JEOL-2010 TEM fitted with a thin-window energy-dispersive x-ray (EDX) spectrometer and a parallel-recording system for electron energy-loss spectroscopy (EELS), available to on-campus users.

ELECTRON ENERGY-LOSS SPECTROSCOPY

During the last 20 years, we have developed techniques for using EELS to measure the local chemical composition, thickness and mass-thickness of TEM specimens. Applications have included studies of radiation damage in organic materials (including solid C60 and aromatic compounds such as coronene) and inorganic materials (electron sputtering of carbon, metals etc..

ENERGY-DISPERSIVE X-RAY SPECTROSCOPY

Within the last 10 years, we have developed test specimens to aid researchers in quantitative EDX analysis, particularly of light elements. The "NiOx" specimen allows measurement of the stray radiation in a TEM column, the solid angle of the EDX detector, contamination of the detector window etc. and is commercially available from EM vendors. The LoZiCal specimen allowed k-factors for light elements (Z<11) to be measured but is no longer available.

THIN-FILM STUDIES

Thin-film techniques allow materials to be synthesized in many different forms: single crystal (epitaxial), polycrystalline or amorphous, depending on the growth conditions. Completely new (metastable) phases are also possible. We have used a coevaporation technique to make alloy films of nonequilibrium composition and simple vacuum sublimation to grow films of organic materials (pentacene, coronene, rubrene etc.). The growth mechanism was studied by electron microcopy and electron diffraction, their radiation sensitiveity by electron diffraction and EELS.

NANOTECHNOLOGY

By depositing material at an oblique angle, thin films with an unusually porous structure can be obtained. If the substrate is rotated during deposition, pillars or helices are produced, depending on the rotation rate. By using electron-beam lithography to pre-pattern the substrate, we produced ordered arrays of pillars and helices, with potential applications as photonic crystals or for high-density data storage. The TEM was used to examine the growth mechanisms of these films and to extend the repeat distance within the array to below 50 nm. Using contamination lithography, we have used our TEM to write patterns (e.g. in Bi) with a line-edge roughness below 1 nm.