Applied Microscopy

Korean Society of Microscopy (한국현미경학회)
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A Brief Comment on Atom Probe Tomography Applications

  • Seol, Jae-Bok (National Institute for Nanomaterials Technology, Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH)) ;
  • Kim, Young-Tae (Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH)) ;
  • Park, Chan-Gyung (National Institute for Nanomaterials Technology, Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH))
  • Received : 2016.09.27
  • Accepted : 2016.09.27
  • Published : 2016.09.30
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Abstract

Atom probe tomography is a time-of-flight mass spectrometry-based microanalysis technique based on the field evaporation of surface atoms of a tip-shaped specimen under an extremely high surface electric field. It enables three-dimensional characterization for deeper understanding of chemical nature in conductive materials at nanometer/atomic level, because of its high depth and spatial resolutions and ppm-level sensitivity. Indeed, the technique has been widely used to investigate the elemental partitioning in the complex microstructures, the segregation of solute atoms to the boundaries, interfaces, and dislocations as well as following of the evolution of precipitation staring from the early stage of cluster formation to the final stage of the equilibrium precipitates. The current review article aims at giving a comment to first atom probe users regarding the limitation of the techniques, providing a brief perspective on how we correctly interprets atom probe data for targeted applications.

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References

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