Tim M. Schwarz and his colleagues were awarded with the Best Paper Award 2024 by the journal Microscopy and Microanalysis. Their publication shows how atom probe specimens can be produced in a way that the valuable measurement yield increases.
Tim M. Schwarz and his colleagues were awarded with the Best Paper Award 2024 by the journal Microscopy and Microanalysis. Their publication shows how atom probe specimens can be produced in a way that the valuable measurement yield increases.
The journal Microscopy & Microanalysis has awarded Dr. Tim M. Schwarz, project group leader at the Max Planck Institute for Sustainable Materials, the Best Paper Award 2024. His publication discusses a new in-situ technique to improve the performance and yield of atom probe tomography (APT) of a wide range of non-conductive and fragile material systems, a key method for analysing materials at the atomic scale and better understand their structure-property relationship.
APT allows researchers to investigate the composition and structure of materials with nearly atomic precision. However, preparing reliable samples for APT remains challenging. The needle-shaped specimens, often thinner than 100 nanometres - roughly 500 times smaller than a human hair - are fragile and easily affected by defects. Schwarz and his colleagues addressed this by developing an in-situ coating method: “Instead of coating the specimens after transfer, we deposit a thin metallic layer immediately following specimen preparation, directly within the focused ion beam instrument,” explains Schwarz. This approach significantly enhances the field of view, increases measurement yield, improves mass resolution and enables a better visualisation of the specimen’s entire surface, including oxide layers. The method is simple to implement and compatible with a wide range of materials, making it highly attractive for many APT applications, particularly when analysing reactive materials or studying corrosion, coatings, thin films and biomaterials.
(A) Shows an in-situ Cr coating on an APT specimen. (B) TEM-EDX mapping demonstrates a homogeneous Cr layer of several hundred nanometres along the tip shaft of the specimen, with an approximate coating thickness of 10 nm.In (C) a comparison between uncoated and coated samples, where Li δ′ precipitates were visualized using an isosurface concentration of 8 at.% Li. By using Cr-coating, the field of view could be enlarged, enabling a large number of precipitates to be detected, as well as native oxide around the APT probe , which offers a new possibility for analysis for a variety of systems in the future.
(A) Shows an in-situ Cr coating on an APT specimen. (B) TEM-EDX mapping demonstrates a homogeneous Cr layer of several hundred nanometres along the tip shaft of the specimen, with an approximate coating thickness of 10 nm.In (C) a comparison between uncoated and coated samples, where Li δ′ precipitates were visualized using an isosurface concentration of 8 at.% Li. By using Cr-coating, the field of view could be enlarged, enabling a large number of precipitates to be detected, as well as native oxide around the APT probe , which offers a new possibility for analysis for a variety of systems in the future.
The Best Paper Award is presented annually at the Microscopy & Microanalysis conference in the USA, one of the leading events for scientists and industry experts in the field of microscopy.
Awarded publication
1.
Tim Schwarz, Eric Woods, Mahander Pratap Singh, Chanwon Jung, Leonardo Shoji Aota, Kyuseon Jang, Mathias Krämer, Se-Ho Kim, Ingrid McCaroll, and Baptiste Gault, "In-situ metallic coating of atom probe specimen for enhanced yield, performance, and increased field-of-view," Microscopy and Microanalysis , ozae006 (2024).
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