Staff profile

 

 

 

Latest News: new book on electron microscopy

My book Electron Beam- Specimen Interactions and Simulation Methods in Microscopy was recently published by Wiley (April 2018). It explores the interactions between high energy electrons and the specimen in the context of the various simulation tools available to the microscopist, such as Monte Carlo, Multislice, Bloch wave, Electrodynamic methods etc. The book is available on Amazon and Wiley.

Research Interests

Electron microscopy is used as the primary research tool to investigate a wide range of materials science problems, particularly in thin-film solar cell materials. There is also interest in modelling electron beam-specimen interactions as well as developing image and spectroscopic data analysis methods. Ongoing research projects are summarised below. 

(i) Electrical activity of grain boundaries

Thin-film semiconductor solar cells contain a high density of grain boundaries that have an important effect on the overall device efficiency. The electrical activity of a grain boundary can be broadly described by two parameters, viz. the recombination velocity and barrier height which affects minority and majority carrier flow respectively. We have developed a novel cathodoluminescence method in the SEM for measuring the recombination velocity. The barrier height is measured from in-line holography experiments in the TEM, which together with structural and chemical information give a complete description of the grain boundary. These techniques are being applied to understand grain boundary passivation mechanisms in CdTe-based solar cells.

 

(ii) Partial ordering in Cu2ZnSnS4 (CZTS) solar cell absorber material

CZTS has recently emerged as a promising absorber layer material for thin-film solar cells due to the abundance and non-toxicity of its constituent elements. There are two crystal structures for CZTS, kesterite and stannite, although the difference in ordering energy is less than 3 meV/atom. Hence, depending on the processing conditions, CZTS is expected to be ‘partially ordered’ which introduces energy levels within the band gap, thereby affecting optical absorption properties. Convergent beam electron diffraction is used to explore the point group symmetry due to local ordering from nanometre sized volumes. This is complemented by scanning TEM (STEM) based techniques, such as HAADF pseudo-chemical contrast imaging and direct chemical analysis using EELS. 

 

(iii) Nanomaterial distribution in hybrid solar cells

Hybrid solar cells contain inorganic nanomaterials (nanoparticles, nanorods) in a host polymer matrix. They are attractive solar cell materials due to low cost and ability to deposit the material over large areas using single-step solution processing. Light is absorbed by the polymer to generate a tightly bound electron-hole pair, called an exciton. The device works by dissociating the exciton at the nanomaterial-polymer interface and collecting the resulting free carriers at the electrodes. The nanomaterial morphology plays an important role in exciton dissociation and carrier collection. Electron tomography with high angle annular dark field (HAADF) imaging is used to characterise the 3D nanomaterial distribution. The aim is to correlate device performance with structural information.

 

(iv) Electron beam scattering from dopant atoms

Dopant atoms are important in a number of technological applications, such as semiconductors and catalysts. Modern aberration-corrected electron microscopes are now ‘routinely’ capable of imaging individual dopant atoms. Quantifying these images, for example to determine the distribution of dopant atoms, is however challenging due to the dynamic interaction of the electron beam with the solid. The well-known Howie-Whelan equations describe electron scattering from slowly varying elastic strain fields, but are not applicable to dopant atoms where scattering is largely due to the change in chemistry. We have used quantum mechanical perturbation theory to analyse dopant atom scattering via Bloch waves. This has revealed unique scattering mechanisms for substitutional and interstitial dopant atoms for the first time.

 

(v) Chemical analysis of ‘rough’ interfaces and core-shell nanoparticles

A frequent problem with chemical analysis in the TEM is that the sample may not be uniform within the analytical volume, no matter how small the electron beam diameter. This occurs with ‘rough’ interfaces that have projected width when tilted ‘end-on’ as well as core-shell nanoparticles. In such cases the measured signal contains a contribution from the phase of interest as well as the surrounding phase(s). We have developed a novel data analysis method for deconvolving the signal of interest from the raw data with no special requirements in data collection. The method is applicable to EDX and EELS data, the latter providing information on atomic bonding as well as chemical composition.

 

• Centre for Materials Physics
• Condensed Matter Physics
• Electron Microscopy

• 2017: H2020-INDEED: Innovative Nanowire DEvicE Design (ITN)(£0.00 from European Commission)
• 2017: NECEM(£237826.73 from Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council)

Chapter in book

• Mendis, BG, Jones, IP & Smallman, RE (2005). Suzuki segregation to stacking faults in a Cu-Si alloy. In Electron Microscopy of Molecular and Atom-Scale Mechanical Behavior, Chemistry and Structure. Martin, D.C., Muller, D.A., Midgley, P.A. & Stach, E.A. Boston, MA: Materials Research Society. 839: 137-142.
• Mendis, BG, Mishin, Y, Hartley, CS & Hemker, KJ (2005). HREM imaging of screw dislocation core structures in bcc metals. In Electron Microscopy of Molecular and Atom-Scale Mechanical Behavior, Chemistry and Structure. Martin, David C., Muller, David A., Midgley, Paul A. & Stach, Eric A. Cambridge University Press. 839: 73-78.

Conference Paper

• Halliday, D. P., Williams, B. L., Durose, K., Mendis, B., Kartopu, G., Irvine, S. J. C., Zoppi, G. & Forbes, I. (2011), CdTe/CdS core-shell nanowire structures on glass substrates for photovoltaic applications — Growth and characterization, 2011 37th IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference. 234-238.

Journal Article

• Mendis, B.G. (2023). Coherent electron Compton scattering and the non-diagonal electron momentum density of solids. Ultramicroscopy 245: 113664.
• Rigby, O. M., Richards-Hlabangana, T., Ramasse, Q. M., MacLaren, I., Lomas-Zapata, R. A., Rumsey, M. S., McKenna, K. P. & Mendis, B. G. (2022). Structure and electronic properties of domain walls and stacking fault defects in prospective photoferroic materials bournonite and enargite. Journal of Applied Physics 132(18): 185001.
• Mendis, B.G. (2022). Background subtraction in electron Compton spectroscopy. Micron 163: 103363.
• Mendis, Budhika G. & Talmantaite, Alina (2022). Towards Electron Energy Loss Compton Spectra Free From Dynamical Diffraction Artifacts. Microscopy and Microanalysis
• Mendis, B.G. (2022). Quantum theory of magnon excitation by high energy electron beams. Ultramicroscopy 239: 113548.
• Fiducia, Thomas, Howkins, Ashley, Abbas, Ali, Mendis, Budhika, Munshi, Amit, Barth, Kurt, Sampath, Walajabad & Walls, John (2022). Selenium passivates grain boundaries in alloyed CdTe solar cells. Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells 238: 111595.
• Palacios-Gómez, David A., Huerta Flores, Ali M., MacKenzie, Roderick C. I., Pearson, Christopher, Alanazi, Faisal, Mendis, Budhika G. & Groves, Christopher (2021). Differing Impacts of Blended Fullerene Acceptors on the Performance of Ternary Organic Solar Cells. ACS Applied Energy Materials 4(10): 10867-10876.
• Mendis, B.G. (2021). A semi-classical theory of magnetic inelastic scattering in transmission electron energy loss spectroscopy. Ultramicroscopy 230: 113390.
• Mendis, B.G. (2021). Surface Core Hole Electron Energy-Loss Fine Structure in MgO: Experiment and Theory. Microscopy and Microanalysis 27(6): 1316-1327.
• Mendis, B. G. & Ramasse, Q. M. (2021). Removal of core hole distortion from ionization edges in electron energy loss spectroscopy. Physical Review B 103(20): 205102.
• Mendis, Budhika G., Barthel, Juri, Findlay, Scott D. & Allen, Leslie J. (2020). Inelastic Scattering in Electron Backscatter Diffraction and Electron Channeling Contrast Imaging. Microscopy and Microanalysis 26(6): 1147-1157.
• Baines, Tom, Bowen, Leon, Mendis, Budhika G. & Major, Jonathan D. (2020). Microscopic Analysis of Interdiffusion and Void Formation in CdTe(1–x)Sex and CdTe Layers. ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces 12(34): 38070-38075.
• Barthel, Juri, Cattaneo, Mauricio, Mendis, Budhika G., Findlay, Scott D. & Allen, Leslie J. (2020). Angular dependence of fast-electron scattering from materials. Physical Review B 101(18): 184109.
• Williams, Rhys E., Ramasse, Quentin M., McKenna, Keith P., Phillips, Laurie J., Yates, Peter J., Hutter, Oliver S., Durose, Ken, Major, Jonathan D. & Mendis, Budhika G. (2020). Evidence for Self-healing Benign Grain Boundaries and a Highly Defective Sb2Se3–CdS Interfacial Layer in Sb2Se3 Thin-Film Photovoltaics. ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces 12(19): 21730-21738.
• Mendis, BG (2020). Theory underpinning multislice simulations with plasmon energy losses. Microscopy 69(3): 173-175.
• Talmantaite, A., Hunt, M.R.C. & Mendis, B.G. (2020). Electron Compton scattering and the measurement of electron momentum distributions in solids. Journal of Microscopy 279(3): 185-188.
• Mendis, B.G. (2019). An inelastic multislice simulation method incorporating plasmon energy losses. Ultramicroscopy 206: 112816.
• Mendis, BG (2019). Planck's generalised radiation law and its implications for cathodoluminescence spectra. Ultramicroscopy 204: 73-80.
• Fiducia, Thomas A. M., Mendis, Budhika G., Li, Kexue, Grovenor, Chris R. M., Munshi, Amit H., Barth, Kurt, Sampath, Walajabad S., Wright, Lewis D., Abbas, Ali, Bowers, Jake W. & Walls, John M. (2019). Understanding the role of selenium in defect passivation for highly efficient selenium-alloyed cadmium telluride solar cells. Nature Energy 4: 504-511.
• Mendis, Budhika (2019). Fully depleted emitter layers: a novel method to improve band alignment in thin-film solar cells. Semiconductor Science and Technology 34(5): 055008.
• Mendis, Budhika G, Ramasse, Quentin M., Shalvey, Thomas, Major, Jonathan D. & Durose, Ken (2019). Optical Properties and Dielectric Functions of Grain Boundaries and Interfaces in CdTe Thin-Film Solar Cells. ACS Applied Energy Materials 2(2): 1419-1427.
• Batsanov, Stepan S., Osavchuk, Alexander N., Naumov, Stepan P., Gavrilkin, Sergey M., Leskov, Anatoly S., Mendis, Budhika G., Beeby, Andrew & Batsanov, Andrei S. (2018). Novel synthesis and properties of hydrogen-free detonation nanodiamond. Materials Chemistry and Physics 216: 120-129.
• Mendis, B.G., McKenna, K.P., Gurieva, G., Rumsey, M.S. & Schorr, S. (2018). Crystal structure and anti-site boundary defect characterisation of Cu2ZnSnSe4. Journal of Materials Chemistry A 6(1): 189-197.
• Mendis, B.G., Taylor, A.A., Guennou, M., Berg, D.M., Arasimowicz, M., Ahmed, S., Deligianni, H. & Dale, P.J. (2018). Nanometre-scale optical property fluctuations in Cu2ZnSnS4 revealed by low temperature cathodoluminescence. Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells 174: 65-76.
• Mendis, B.G., Howkins, A., Stowe, D., Major, J.D. & Durose, K. (2016). The role of transition radiation in cathodoluminescence imaging and spectroscopy of thin-foils. Ultramicroscopy 167: 31-42.
• Mendis, B.G., Treharne, R.E., Lane, D.W. & Durose, K. (2016). The effects of junction interdiffusion and misfit dislocations on the efficiency of highly mismatched heterojunction photovoltaic devices. Applied Physics Letters 108(18): 183505.
• Crossay, A., Colombara, D., Melchiorre, M., Guennou, M., Mendis, B.G. & Dale, P.J. (2016). Understanding quaternary compound Cu2ZnSnSe4 synthesis by microscopic scale analyses at an identical location. Journal of Materials Chemistry C 4(21): 4626-4629.
• Tian (田琳), Lin, Di Mario, Lorenzo, Minotti, Antonio, Tiburzi, Giorgio, Mendis, Budhika G., Zeze, Dagou A. & Martelli, Faustino (2016). Direct growth of Si nanowires on flexible organic substrates. Nanotechnology 27(22): 225601.
• Mendis, B.G., Gachet, D., Major, J.D. & Durose, K. (2015). Long lifetime hole traps at grain boundaries in CdTe thin-film photovoltaics. Physical Review Letters 115(21): 218701
• Taylor, AA, Major, JD, Kartopu, G, Lamb, D, Duenow, J, Dhere, RG, Maeder, X, Irvine, SJC, Durose, K & Mendis, BG (2015). A comparative study of microstructural stability and sulphur diffusion in CdS/CdTe photovoltaic devices. Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells 141: 341-349.
• Mendis, B.G. (2015). Dynamic scattering of electron vortex beams – A Bloch wave analysis. Ultramicroscopy 149: 74-85.
• Kaku, K., Williams, A.T., Mendis, B.G. & Groves, C. (2015). Examining Charge Transport Networks in Organic Bulk Heterojunction Photovoltaic Diodes using 1/f Noise Spectroscopy. Journal of Materials Chemistry C 3(23): 6077-6085.
• Mendis, B.G. (2015). On the electron vortex beam wavefunction within a crystal. Ultramicroscopy 157: 1-11.
• Mendis BG, Shannon MD, Goodman MCJ, Major JD, Claridge R, Halliday DP & Durose K (2014). Direct observation of Cu,Zn cation disorder in Cu2ZnSnS4 solar cell absorber material using aberration corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy. Progress in Photovoltaics: Research and Applications 22(1): 24-34.
• Mendis, Budhika G. Bishop, Sarah J. Groves, Chris Szablewski, Marek Berlie, Adam & Halliday, Douglas P. (2013). Plasmon-loss imaging of polymer-methanofullerene bulk heterojunction solar cells. Applied Physics Letters 102(25): 253301.
• B L Williams, D P Halliday, B G Mendis & K Durose (2013). Microstructure and point defects in CdTe nanowires for photovoltaic applications. Nanotechnology 24(13): 135703.
• Mendis, B G, Shannon, M D, Goodman, M C J, Major, J D, Taylor, A A, Halliday, D P & Durose, K (2013). The nature of electrostatic potential fluctuations in Cu2ZnSnS4 and their role on photovoltaic device performance. Journal of Physics: Conference Series 471: 012014.
• Colombara D, Delsante S, Borzone G, Mitchels JM, Molloy KC, Thomas LH, Mendis BG, Cummings CY, Marken F & Peter LM (2013). Crystal growth of Cu2ZnSnS4 solar cell absorber by chemical vapor transport with I2. Journal of Crystal Growth 364: 101.
• Ball J, Centeno A, Mendis BG, Reehal HS & Alford N (2012). Optical characteristics of silicon nanowires grown from tin catalyst layers on silicon coated glass. Optics Express 20(18): 20266.
• Za’bah NF, Kelvin SKK, Bowen L, Mendis B & O'Neill A (2012). Top-down fabrication of single crystal silicon nanowire using optical lithography. Journal of Applied Physics 112(2): 024309.
• Batsanov SS Gavrilkin SM, Batsanov AS Poyarkov KB, Kulakova II, Johnson DW & Mendis BG (2012). Giant dielectric permittivity of detonation-produced nanodiamond is caused by water. Journal of Materials Chemistry 22(22): 11166.
• Mendis, B.G. Goodman, M.C.J. Major, J.D. Taylor, A.A. Durose, K. & Halliday, D.P. (2012). The role of secondary phase precipitation on grain boundary electrical activity in Cu2ZnSnS4 (CZTS) photovoltaic absorber layer material. Journal of Applied Physics 112(12): 124508.
• Mendis BG & Durose K (2012). Prospects for electron microscopy characterisation of solar cells: Opportunities and challenges. Ultramicroscopy 119: 82.
• Nicholson, CE, Chen, C, Mendis, B & Cooper, SJ (2011). Stable Polymorphs Crystallized Directly under Thermodynamic Control in Three-Dimensional Nanoconfinement: A Generic Methodology. Crystal Growth & Design 11(2): 363-366.
• BG Mendis & L Bowen (2011). Cathodoluminescence measurement of grain boundary recombination velocity in vapour grown p-CdTe. Journal of Physics: Conference Series 326: 012017.
• Mendis, BG & Craven, AJ (2011). Characterising the surface and interior chemistry of core-shell nanoparticles using scanning transmission electron microscopy. Ultramicroscopy 111(3): 212-226.
• E Eberg, ATJ van Helvoort, R Takahashi, M Gass, B Mendis, A Bleloch, R Holmestad & T Tybell (2011). Electron energy loss spectroscopy investigation of Pb and Ti hybridization with O at the PbTiO(3)/SrTiO(3) interface. Journal of Applied Physics 109(3): 034104.
• Massey, MK, Pearson, C, Zeze, DA, Mendis, BG & Petty, MC (2011). The electrical and optical properties of oriented Langmuir-Blodgett films of carbon nanotubes. Carbon 49(7): 2424-2430.
• KM Anderson, SE Tallentire, MR Probert, AE Goeta, BG Mendis & JW Steed (2011). Trimethyltin Hydroxide a crystallographic and high Z′ curiosity. Crystal Growth & Design 11(3): 820-826.
• CR Herron, KS Coleman, RS Edwards & BG Mendis (2011). Simple and scalable route for the 'bottom-up' synthesis of few-layer graphene platelets and thin films. Journal of Materials Chemistry 21(10): 3378-3383.
• Cirlin, G.E., Dubrovskii, V.G., Samsonenko, Y.B., Bouravleuv, A.D., Durose, K., Proskruryakov, Y.Y., Mendes, B., Bowen, L., Kaliteevski, M.A., Abram, R. & Zeze, D.A. (2010). Self-catalyzed, pure zincblende GaAs nanowires grown on Si(111) by molecular beam epitaxy. Physical Review B 82(3): 035302.
• CR Seabourne, AJ Scott, G Vaughan, R Brydson, SG Wang, RCC Ward, C Wang, A Kohn, B Mendis & AK Petford-Long (2010). Analysis of computational EELS modelling results for MgO-based systems. Ultramicroscopy 110(8): 1059-1069.
• EE McCabe, DG Free, BG Mendis, JS Higgins & JSO Evans (2010). Preparation, Characterization, and Structural Phase Transitions in a New Family of Semiconducting Transition Metal Oxychalcogenides beta-La(2)O(2)MSe(2) (M = Mn, Fe). Chemistry of Materials 22(22): 6171-6182.
• Mendis, BG (2010). Electron beam-specimen interactions and their effect on high-angle annular dark-field imaging of dopant atoms within a crystal. Acta Crystallographica Section A 66: 407-420.
• IM Ross, WM Rainforth, CR Seabourne, AJ Scott, P Wang, BG Mendis, AL Bleloch, C Reinhard & PE Hovsepian (2010). Electron energy loss spectroscopy of nano-scale CrAlYN/CrN-CrAlY(O)N/Cr(O)N multilayer coatings deposited by unbalanced magnetron sputtering. Thin Solid Films 518(18): 5121-5127.
• Mendis, BG, Bowen, L & Jiang, QZ (2010). A contactless method for measuring the recombination velocity of an individual grain boundary in thin-film photovoltaics. Applied Physics Letters 97(9): 092112.
• Mendis, BG, MacKenzie, M & Craven, AJ (2010). A new analytical method for characterising the bonding environment at rough interfaces in high-k gate stacks using electron energy loss spectroscopy. Ultramicroscopy 110(2): 105-117.
• R Macedo, J Borme, R Ferreira, S Cardoso, PP Freitas, B Mendis & M MacKenzie (2010). Nanofabrication of 30 nm Devices Incorporating Low Resistance Magnetic Tunnel Junctions. Journal of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology 10(9): 5951-5957.
• Estrade, S, Rebled, JM, Arbiol, J, Peiro, F, Infante, IC, Herranz, G, Sanchez, F, Fontcuberta, J, Cordoba, R, Mendis, BG & Bleloch, AL (2009). Effects of thickness on the cation segregation in epitaxial (001) and (110) La2/3Ca1/3MnO3 thin films. Applied Physics Letters 95(7): 072507.
• Mendis, BG (2008). Elastic scattering of high-energy electrons by dopant atoms within a crystal in transmission electron microscopy. Acta Crystallographica Section A 64: 613-624.
• Mendis, BG & Hemkerc, KJ (2008). Bloch wave analysis of the Eshelby twist contrast around end-on screw dislocations in bcc Mo. Ultramicroscopy 108(9): 855-864.
• Mendis, BG & Hemker, KJ (2008). Thermal stability of microstructural phases in commercial NiCoCrAlY bond coats. Scripta Materialia 58(4): 255-258.
• Gianola, DS, Mendis, BG, Cheng, XM & Hemker, KJ (2008). Grain-size stabilization by impurities and effect on stress-coupled grain growth in nanocrystalline Al thin films. Materials Science And Engineering A-structural Materials Properties Microstructure And Processing 483: 637-640.
• Hemker, KJ, Mendis, BG & Eberl, C (2008). Characterizing the microstructure and mechanical behavior of a two-phase NiCoCrAlY bond coat for thermal barrier systems. Materials Science And Engineering A-structural Materials Properties Microstructure And Processing 483: 727-730.
• Mendis, BG & Hemker, KJ (2007). Evolution of the premartensitic state in the NiAl phase of a NiCoCrAlY bond coat during thermal cycling. Philosophical Magazine 87: 4229-4251.
• Mendis, BG, Mishin, Y, Hartley, CS & Hemker, KJ (2006). Use of the Nye tensor in analyzing HREM images of bcc screw dislocations. Philosophical Magazine 86(29-31): 4607-4640.
• Mendis, BG, Livi, KJT & Hemker, KJ (2006). Observations of reactive element gettering of sulfur in thermally grown oxide pegs. Scripta Materialia 55(7): 589-592.
• Mendis, BG, Tryon, B, Pollock, TM & Hemker, KJ (2006). Microstructural observations of as-prepared and thermal cycled NiCoCrAlY bond coats. Surface & Coatings Technology 201(7): 3918-3925.
• Mendis, BG, Jones, IP & Smallman, RE (2004). Suzuki segregation in a binary Cu-Si alloy. Journal Of Electron Microscopy 53(4): 311-323.