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A New Approach to the Determination of Concentration Profiles in Atom Probe Tomography

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 February 2012

Peter J. Felfer ,
Baptiste Gault ,
Gang Sha ,
Leigh Stephenson ,
Simon P. Ringer  and
Julie M. Cairney
Peter J. Felfer*
Affiliation:
Australian Centre for Microscopy and Microanalysis, Madsen Building F09, The University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Camperdown, Australia
Baptiste Gault
Affiliation:
Australian Centre for Microscopy and Microanalysis, Madsen Building F09, The University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Camperdown, Australia
Gang Sha
Affiliation:
Australian Centre for Microscopy and Microanalysis, Madsen Building F09, The University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Camperdown, Australia
Leigh Stephenson
Affiliation:
Australian Centre for Microscopy and Microanalysis, Madsen Building F09, The University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Camperdown, Australia
Simon P. Ringer
Affiliation:
Australian Centre for Microscopy and Microanalysis, Madsen Building F09, The University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Camperdown, Australia
Julie M. Cairney
Affiliation:
Australian Centre for Microscopy and Microanalysis, Madsen Building F09, The University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Camperdown, Australia
*
Corresponding author. E-mail: peter.felfer@sydney.edu.au
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Abstract

Atom probe tomography (APT) provides three-dimensional analytical imaging of materials with near-atomic resolution using pulsed field evaporation. The processes of field evaporation can cause atoms to be placed at positions in the APT reconstruction that can deviate slightly from their original site in the material. Here, we describe and model one such process—that of preferential retention of solute atoms in multicomponent systems. Based on relative field evaporation probabilities, we calculate the point spread function for the solute atom distribution in the “z,” or in-depth direction, and use this to extract more accurate solute concentration profiles.

Keywords

atom probe tomographyconcentration profilesquantitativepreferential retentiongrain boundariesinterfaces
Type
Techniques and Software Development
Information
Microscopy and Microanalysis , Volume 18 , Issue 2 , April 2012 , pp. 359 - 364
Copyright
Copyright © Microscopy Society of America 2012

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References

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