Scanning transmission ion microscopy of polycarbonate nanocapillaries

作者：Gal G A B; Rajta I^*; Szilasi S Z; Juhasz Z; Biri S; Cserhati C; Csik A; Sulik B

来源：Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section B: Beam Interactions with Materials and Atoms , 2011, 269(20): 2322-2325.

DOI：10.1016/j.nimb.2011.02.024

• Microscopy
• Nanoscale materials characterization
• Nanocapillaries
• Ion guiding

Polycarbonate membranes containing statistically scattered heavy ion track nanocapillaries have been studied by scanning transmission ion microscopy (STIM) method. The geometry of the samples was characterized by pore diameters of about 172 nm and by 30 mu m membrane thickness. The porosity has to be relatively low in order to avoid too many overlapping capillaries. The transparency of the sample is reduced by changing its tilt angle to the beam. While the acceptance angle for transmission of a single capillary is below 0.3 degrees, the STIM results have showed that the angular spread was about 1 degrees full width at half maximum (FWHM). This indicates that the capillaries are not perfectly parallel, i.e. the capillary directions have a finite angular spread.
Our results are important for the recent use of these types of insulator membranes in ion guiding studies, and the related potential applications.

• 出版日期2011-10-15