Development of a quantitative energy filtering TEM method to study a reactive NiO/(NiFe)-Ni-80-Fe-20 interface

Energy filtering TEM (EFTEM) has been performed on an annealed NiO/(NiFe)-N i-80-Fe-20 interface. Chemical maps have been calculated using the three-wi ndow technique on the O-K, Fe-L-23 and Ni-L-23 edges. In this paper we show that relative quantification can be made using reference areas on the imag es taken from part to part of the interface in well-known composition areas . Partial cross-section ratios sigma (Ni)(20 eV)/sigma (O)(20 eV) and sigma (Ni)(20 eV)/sigma (Fe)(20 eV) have been then measured and used to extract the chemical composition of the reactive NiO/(NiFe)-Ni-80-Fe-20 interface. Fe, Ni and O composition profiles across the interface have been obtained s howing the diffusion process which has occurred during annealing. The relia bility of the EFTEM measurements has been checked by EEL spectroscopy on th e same sample as well as on a reference geological oxide sample (Trevorit: NiFe2O4). The partial cross-section ratios obtained with the two methods (E FTEM and EELS) are in good agreement. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All ri ghts reserved.