Statistics of the Atom-by-Atom Dissection of Planes in an Atom-Probe Field-Ion Microscope: The Number of Atoms Detected Per Plane

摘要

The statistics of the atom-by-atom dissection of planes, in the atom-probe field-ion microscope, have been investigated. Tungsten specimens oriented in the (110) direction, with the probe hole over the center of the plane, were slowly pulse field-evaporated on a plane-by-plane basis, and statistical analyses were made on the number of tungsten atoms detected per plane; twenty-four separate slow dissection experiments were performed. Observed fluctuations in the number of atoms per plane are used to infer a range of allowable values for the detection efficiency. (ERA citation 08:005618)