IMPROVEMENTS IN 3-DIMENSIONAL ATOM-PROBE DESIGN

An improved position-sensitive atom probe has been designed which uses a combination of a parallel timing system and a silicon photodiode array camera. The use of two separate data acquisition systems allows the two functions of accurate positioning and flight time determination to be divorced, thus removing the compromises which must be made when these functions are carried out with only a single detector. The resulting instrument is able to determine flight times and positions of impacts straightforwardly, even when multiple ions are evaporated on a single pulse, and should be capable of operating at evaporation rates close to that of a conventional probe-hole atom probe.