Australian Centre for Microscopy and Microanalysis, The University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia.
Microsc Res Tech. 2012 Apr;75(4):484-91. doi: 10.1002/jemt.21081. Epub 2011 Sep 29.
Atom probe tomography (APT) is a mass spectrometry method with atomic-scale spatial resolution that can be used for the investigation of a wide range of materials. The main limiting factor with respect to the type of problems that can be addressed is the small volume investigated and the randomness of common sample preparation methods. With existing site-specific specimen preparation methods it is still challenging to rapidly and reproducibly produce large numbers of successful samples from specifically selected grain boundaries or interfaces for systematic studies. A new method utilizing both focused ion beam (FIB) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) is presented that can be used to reproducibly produce damage-free atom probe samples with features of interest at any desired orientation with an accuracy of better than 50 nm from samples that require very little prior preparation.
原子探针层析术（APT）是一种具有原子级空间分辨率的质谱分析方法，可用于广泛的材料研究。相对于可解决的问题类型，其主要的限制因素是所研究的体积小，以及常见样品制备方法的随机性。利用现有的特定位置样本制备方法，仍然难以快速且可重复地从特定选择的晶界或界面中产生大量的成功样本，以进行系统研究。本文提出了一种新的方法，它结合了聚焦离子束（FIB）和透射电子显微镜（TEM），可用于从几乎无需预先制备的样品中，以优于 50nm 的精度，在任意所需方向上复制产生无损伤原子探针样本，并具有感兴趣的特征。
