Application of EXELFS to glasses in a dedicated STEM

Extended energy-loss fine structure (EXELFS) in an electron energy-loss spectrum (EELS) has been applied to the determination of the element-specific local structure (e.g. partial radial distribution functions (RDF)) of glasses. EXELFS spectra have been acquired by using a Gatan 666 PEELS spectrometers attached to a VG FIB501 (100 keV) scanning transmission electron microscope (STEM). Pure silica glass (amorphous SiC₂) was chosen as a reference specimen since its structure is well known. RDFs around oxygen and silicon atoms were obtained by the Fourier transform method.