Tim M Schwarz, Eric Woods, Mahander P Singh, Xinren Chen, Chanwon Jung, Leonardo S Aota, Kyuseon Jang, Mathias Krämer, Se-Ho Kim, Ingrid McCarroll, Baptiste Gault
{"title":"In Situ Metallic Coating of Atom Probe Specimen for Enhanced Yield, Performance, and Increased Field-of-View.","authors":"Tim M Schwarz, Eric Woods, Mahander P Singh, Xinren Chen, Chanwon Jung, Leonardo S Aota, Kyuseon Jang, Mathias Krämer, Se-Ho Kim, Ingrid McCarroll, Baptiste Gault","doi":"10.1093/mam/ozae006","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Atom probe tomography requires needle-shaped specimens with a diameter typically below 100 nm, making them both very fragile and reactive, and defects (notches at grain boundaries or precipitates) are known to affect the yield and data quality. The use of a conformal coating directly on the sharpened specimen has been proposed to increase yield and reduce background. However, to date, these coatings have been applied ex situ and mostly are not uniform. Here, we report on the controlled focused-ion beam in situ deposition of a thin metal film on specimens immediately after specimen preparation. Different metallic targets e.g. Cr were attached to a micromanipulator via a conventional lift-out method and sputtered using Ga or Xe ions. We showcase the many advantages of coating specimens from metallic to nonmetallic materials. We have identified an increase in data quality and yield, an improvement of the mass resolution, as well as an increase in the effective field-of-view. This wider field-of-view enables visualization of the entire original specimen, allowing to detect the complete surface oxide layer around the specimen. The ease of implementation of the approach makes it very attractive for generalizing its use across a very wide range of atom probe analyses.</p>","PeriodicalId":18625,"journal":{"name":"Microscopy and Microanalysis","volume":" ","pages":"1109-1123"},"PeriodicalIF":2.9000,"publicationDate":"2025-02-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Microscopy and Microanalysis","FirstCategoryId":"5","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1093/mam/ozae006","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"MATERIALS SCIENCE, MULTIDISCIPLINARY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Atom probe tomography requires needle-shaped specimens with a diameter typically below 100 nm, making them both very fragile and reactive, and defects (notches at grain boundaries or precipitates) are known to affect the yield and data quality. The use of a conformal coating directly on the sharpened specimen has been proposed to increase yield and reduce background. However, to date, these coatings have been applied ex situ and mostly are not uniform. Here, we report on the controlled focused-ion beam in situ deposition of a thin metal film on specimens immediately after specimen preparation. Different metallic targets e.g. Cr were attached to a micromanipulator via a conventional lift-out method and sputtered using Ga or Xe ions. We showcase the many advantages of coating specimens from metallic to nonmetallic materials. We have identified an increase in data quality and yield, an improvement of the mass resolution, as well as an increase in the effective field-of-view. This wider field-of-view enables visualization of the entire original specimen, allowing to detect the complete surface oxide layer around the specimen. The ease of implementation of the approach makes it very attractive for generalizing its use across a very wide range of atom probe analyses.
期刊介绍:
Microscopy and Microanalysis publishes original research papers in the fields of microscopy, imaging, and compositional analysis. This distinguished international forum is intended for microscopists in both biology and materials science. The journal provides significant articles that describe new and existing techniques and instrumentation, as well as the applications of these to the imaging and analysis of microstructure. Microscopy and Microanalysis also includes review articles, letters to the editor, and book reviews.