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Updated: Jul 6, 2026

Revealing Dynamic Processes of Materials in Liquids Using Liquid Cell Transmission Electron Microscopy
Published on: December 20, 2012
Real-time TEM imaging of the formation of crystalline nanoscale gaps
Douglas R Strachan1, Danvers E Johnston, Beth S Guiton
1Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104, USA. drstrach@sas.upenn.edu
Abstract:
We present real-time transmission electron microscopy of nanogap formation by feedback controlled electromigration that reveals a remarkable degree of crystalline order. Crystal facets appear during feedback controlled electromigration indicating a layer-by-layer, highly reproducible electromigration process avoiding thermal runaway and melting. These measurements provide insight into the electromigration induced failure mechanism in sub-20 nm size interconnects, indicating that the current density at failure increases as the width decreases to approximately 1 nm.

