(Georgia Institute of Technology, 1998)
Wang, Z. L. (Zhong Lin); Yin, Jinsong; Berta, Yolande; Zhang, Jiming
Magnetic oxides of (La,A)MnO₃ and (La,A)CoO₃ have two typical structural characteristics:
cations with mixed valences and oxygen vacancies, which are required to balance the charge
introduced by cation doping. The consequences introduced by each can be different, resulting in
different properties. It is important to quantitatively determine the percentage of charges balanced
by each, but this analysis is rather difficult particularly for thin films. This paper has demonstrated
that electron energy-loss spectroscopy (EELS) can be an effective technique for analyzing Mn and
Co magnetic oxides with the use of intensity ratio of white lines, leading to a new technique for
quantifying oxygen vacancies in functional and smart materials.