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On the Use of Simulated Field-Evaporated Specimen Apex Shapes in Atom Probe Tomography Data Reconstruction

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 October 2012

David J. Larson ,
Brian P. Geiser ,
Ty J. Prosa  and
Thomas F. Kelly
David J. Larson*
Affiliation:
Cameca Instruments, Inc., 5500 Nobel Drive, Madison, WI 53711, USA
Brian P. Geiser
Affiliation:
Cameca Instruments, Inc., 5500 Nobel Drive, Madison, WI 53711, USA
Ty J. Prosa
Affiliation:
Cameca Instruments, Inc., 5500 Nobel Drive, Madison, WI 53711, USA
Thomas F. Kelly
Affiliation:
Cameca Instruments, Inc., 5500 Nobel Drive, Madison, WI 53711, USA
*
*Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

The ability to accurately reconstruct original spatial positions of field-evaporated ions emitted from a surface is fundamental to the success of atom probe tomography. As such, a clear understanding of the evolution of specimen shape and the resultant ions' trajectories during field evaporation plays an important role in improving reconstruction accuracy. To further this understanding, field-evaporation simulations of a bilayer specimen composed of two materials having an evaporation field difference of 20% were performed. The simulated field-evaporation patterns qualitatively compare favorably with experimental data, which provides confidence in the accuracy of specimen shapes predicted by the simulation. Correlations of known original atom positions with detector hit positions as a function of lateral detector position and evaporated depth were derived from the simulation. These correlations are contrasted with the current state-of-the-art reconstruction method thus outlining limitations of the current methodology. A pair of transformations are defined that take into account field-evaporated specimen shapes, and the resulting radial magnifications, to relate recorded ion positions in detector space to reconstructed atomic positions in specimen space. This novel process, when applied to simulated data, results in approximately a factor of 2 improvement in accuracy for reconstructions of interfaces with unequal fields (most general interfaces). This method is not constrained by the fundamental assumption of a hemispherical specimen shape.

Keywords

atom probe tomography3D microscopyfield evaporationsimulation
Type
Techniques and Equipment Development
Information
Microscopy and Microanalysis , Volume 18 , Issue 5 , October 2012 , pp. 953 - 963
Copyright
Copyright © Microscopy Society of America 2012

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