Electron energy loss spectroscopy of thin films was carried out, using nm spatial resolution, in a scanning transmission electron microscope. It was found to be possible to extract the scattering intensity, down to energy losses of 2eV, with an energy resolution of 0.36eV. This was achieved by using a high spectrometer dispersion. An attempt was made to determine changes in the electronic band structure which were reflected by the inelastic low loss scattering distribution at dislocations. First-principles calculations within the local density approximation to density functional theory, of the band structure used to simulate low electron energy loss spectra revealed band-gap states that were associated with all dislocation types.

Energy Loss Spectroscopy of Dislocations in GaN and Diamond - a Comparison of Experiment and Calculations. A.Gutiérrez-Sosa, U.Bangert, A.J.Harvey, C.Fall, R.Jones: Diamond and Related Materials, 2003, 12[3-7], 1108-12