Figure 2
DTEM bright field images that were extracted from a time series.
The field of view, i.e., diameter of the images is 10 μm. (A) The micrograph recorded 20 ns after laser irradiation shows dewetting transitions of the thin film marked from 1 to 4. (B) After 115 ns substrate fracture and the formation of nano-size metal droplets is observed. (C) 210 ns after laser illumination no additional fracture of the silicon substrate is observed and metal droplets expelled from the substrate surface remain in the field of view. (D) A conventional TEM bright field image recorded several minutes after laser irradiation confirms fracturing of the substrate with significantly improved signal to noise statistics compared to DTEM. The enlarged images are false colored for better presentation with nickel in red, silicon oxide in blue and silicon in green. Scale bar represents 2 μm in the original images.
