Abstract

The atom probe tomography (APT) provides three-dimensional compositional mapping on an atomic scale. It allows to identify the chemical nature of the elements present in the material thanks to Time-Of-Flight Mass Spectrometry [TOF-MS] [1]. Its principle is based on the extraction of surface atoms from a nanometric needle-shaped sample biased at a high DC field. The DC electric field combined with a voltage pulse or a focused laser pulse triggers the extraction of the atoms, one by one, from the surface in a well-controlled way. The voltage pulses are used for metallic sample analysis while the laser pulses are used for non-metallic samples. However, the interaction of these pulses with the material induce a thermal heating which causes a low spatial and chemical resolutions [1].

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