Atomistic Properties of Semiconductor Nanostructures Revealed by CL Spectroscopy in TEM

Abstract

Cathodoluminescence (CL) spectroscopy in transmission electron microscopy (TEM) is a powerful method to analyze the atomistic properties (such as the localized energy levels and carrier lifetimes) of an individual nanostructure inside semiconducting materials, since the method enables us to obtain the optical property of the nanostructure by CL spectroscopy simultaneously with the atomic arrangement, composition, and morphology of the same nanostructure by TEM. We briefly summarize the principles underlying the generation and interpretation of CL signals, and then review the TEM-CL assessment for some semiconductor nanostructures.