In-situ observation of xenon nanocrystals in aluminum under electron and ion irradiation in transmission electron microscope.

In-situ ion irradiation in the transmission electron microscope (TEM) is one of the unique techniques to investigate the structural evolution of materials induced by particle bombardments. In spite of many efforts to get clear results from in-situ ion irradiation, the results were sometimes unclear because of physical and technical problems associated with TEM and ion beam hardwares. This paper describes a newly developed ion beam interface with an ultra-high voltage TEM (HVTEM) for in-situ observation of ion implantation of metals and alloys in atomic scale