November_EDFA_Digital

ELECTRONIC DEVICE FAILURE ANALYSIS | VOLUME 20 NO. 4 56

the presence of chirality in the transition regions (known as domainwalls) betweenneighboringmagnetic domains with opposite spins. They believe that chirality could be controlled inorder tocontrolmagneticdomains and trans- mit zeros and ones as in traditional computer memory. In present-day computer circuits, silicon wafers are commonly used based on a crystalline form of silicon, with a regularly ordered structure. In this study, themate- rial samples used in the experiments—an alloy of cobalt and gadolinium between ultrathin layers of iridium and platinum—wereamorphous (or noncrystalline), indicating that their atomic structure was chaotic. Experiments demonstrated that themagnetic proper- ties of the domain walls exhibited a dominant chirality that could probably be flipped to its opposite. This flip- pingmechanismwill be a crucial enabling technology for spintronics and different fields of research that are based on the spin properties of electrons. Researcher Robert Streubel says that the favorable outcome of the experiments paves the way for regulating certain characteristics of domainwalls, e.g., chirality, with temperature, and for swapping the chiral properties of a material using light. For more information, visit foundry.lbl.gov. HUGE THERMOMETER TAKES TEMPERATURES OF TINY SAMPLES At Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Tenn., scientists developed a new method to measure temperature over nanoscale volumes with widths much smaller than a humanhair. The newmicroscope, called aNionHERMES— short for high-energy-resolution, monochromated, electron-energy-loss-spectroscopy scanning transmission electron microscope—features extremely high energy resolution and a narrow electron beam. Using electron energy loss and gain spectroscopy, researchers determined the temperature of a material at the nanoscale. Knowing nanoscale temperatures could reveal insights to advance electronics, catalysis, and energy storage and generation technology. This tool can also map atomic-scale vibrations due to heat. These vibrations affectmicroelectronic devices, semiconducting materials, and other technologies. Scientists usedHERMES tomeasure the temperatureof semiconducting hexagonal boron nitride. They observed atomic vibrations that correspond to heat in thematerial. They also characterized nanoscale environments at room temperature to roughly 1300°C using a newly developed protochips heating device.

HERMES could be useful for studying devices working across a wide range of temperatures, from electronics operating under ambient conditions to vehicle catalysts performing at over 300°C. For more information, see the article: “Temperature Measurement by aNanoscale ElectronProbe using Energy GainandLoss Spectroscopy,” by J.C. Idrobo, et al., Physical Review Letters, 2018, 120, 0959012018.

Andrew Lupini and Juan Carlos Idrobo use ORNL’s new monochromated, aberration-corrected scanning transmission electron microscope, a Nion HERMES, to take the temperatures of materials at the nanoscale. Courtesy of ORNL/DOE/Roberts.

THERMO FISHER SCIENTIFIC TO ACQUIRE GATAN FROM ROPER TECHNOLOGIES Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., Walt- ham, Mass., and Roper Technologies Inc., Sarasota, Fla., have entered into a definitive agreement under which Thermo Fisher will acquire Gatan Inc.,

a wholly owned subsidiary of Roper, for approximately $925million in cash. Gatan, headquartered in Pleasanton, Calif., with manufacturing operations in Warrendale, Pa., manufactures instrumentation and software to improve the operation and performance of electron microscopes. The business is expected to generate approximately $150 million in revenue during 2018. The transaction, which is expected to be complete by the end of the year, is subject to customary closing condi- tions including regulatory approvals. Upon completion, Gatan will become part of Thermo Fisher’s Analytical Instruments segment. For more information visit thermofisher.com, ropertech.com, and gatan.com.

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