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Specimen Preparation

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Atom Probe Microscopy

Part of the book series: Springer Series in Materials Science ((SSMATERIALS,volume 160))

Abstract

Because atom probe requires the feature of interest to be positioned near the apex of a sharp needle-shaped tip, specimen preparation is an essential, and often extremely challenging, part of any experiment. Recent developments in instrumentation for atom probe microscopy, such as laser-pulsing and the use of wide-field-of-view detectors, have overcome many of the limitations on the types of materials and microstructures that may be studied. Now, more than ever, it is the difficulty of preparing specimens from materials of unusual geometry and/or from site-specific regions that is the limiting factor, and this is particularly so for non-metals. Related to this is the increasing need for highly reproducible techniques that allow statistically significant numbers of site-specific specimens to be fabricated, enabling better quantification and reliability of the subsequent analyses.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada

    Baptiste Gault

  2. Department of Materials, University of Oxford, Oxford, Oxon, UK

    Michael P. Moody

  3. Australian Centre for Microscopy and Microanalysis, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia

    Julie M. Cairney & Simon P. Ringer

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  1. Baptiste Gault
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  2. Michael P. Moody
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  3. Julie M. Cairney
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  4. Simon P. Ringer
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Gault, B., Moody, M.P., Cairney, J.M., Ringer, S.P. (2012). Specimen Preparation. In: Atom Probe Microscopy. Springer Series in Materials Science, vol 160. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-3436-8_4

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