Very thin foil thickness measurement by energy loss microspectroscopy

Abstract

A simple experimental method for quantitative determination of foil thickness in very thin regions used for HREM and microanalysis under the single scattering or thin film approximations would be very useful and timely. Most current methods rely on diffraction and are applicable only to crystalline materials, with a lower thickness limit of about ξg, or are difficult to apply to very thin foils. Energy loss microspectrscopy avoids most of these difficulties. This note reports first applications of the method to wedge foils of silicon and austenitic stainless steel.