Imaging Dislocations in Single-Crystal SrTiO3 Substrates by Electron Channeling

Electron channeling contrast imaging (ECCI) using a conventional pole-mounted backscatter detector in a commercial scanning electron microscope (SEM) has been implemented to analyze extended defects. In-grown extended defects in bulk SrTiO₃ (001) substrates such as dislocation loops, subsurface dislocations parallel to the surface, and surface-penetrating dislocations have been distinguished by ECCI. The techniques of dislocation-selective etching and ECCI have been compared side-by-side, where surface-penetrating dislocations have been shown to have one-to-one correspondence with ECCI spot features. g·b and g·b × u have been implemented for subsurface portions of intrinsic dislocations, being identified as screw dislocations with Burgers vector in the 〈100〉 direction.