Towards atomic scale engineering of rare-earth-doped SiAlON ceramics through aberration-corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy

Direct visualization of rare earths in α- and β-SiAlON unit-cells is performed through Z-contrast imaging technique in an aberration-corrected scanning transmission electron microscope. The preferential occupation of Yb and Ce atoms in different interstitial locations of β-SiAlON lattice is demonstrated, yielding higher solubility for Yb than Ce. The triangular-like host sites in α-SiAlON unit cell accommodate more Ce atoms than hexagonal sites in β-SiAlON. We think that our results will be applicable as guidelines for many kinds of rare-earth-doped materials.