PACS.68.35.-p -Solid surfaces and solid-solid interfaces PACS.68.55.-a -Thin film structure and morphology Abstract. 2014 It is known that high resolution electron microscopy can provide quantitative information on the nature of crystalline materials. In the present paper an image processing technique is introduced that profits from long extinction distances in electron diffraction. It is applied to study the real structure of spinel films, which were grown on MgO substrates by solid state

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... ions. The simulation of electron diffraction and the analysis of calculated contrast tableaus revealed that the intensity of the spinel-specific {220} reflections is a monotonous function of the crystal thickness in a wide range of parameters. Making use of this relation experimental micrographs of spinel films and MgO/spinel interfaces are interpreted by Fourier filtering. First, it is the aim of the technique developed to map the local thickness of spinel films by evaluating the {220} related contrast. Second, if the specimens are sufficiently plane, the degree of abruptness of the different spinel/MgO reaction fronts can be analysed.