Inspico High Resolution Analysis
Dedicated Instruments:  Field Ion Microscopy & Atom Probe Tomography

Theoretical Background


Atom probe tomography allows a chemical analysis of nanostructured materials with atomic resolution. During the destructive analysis, the specimen is eroded atom by atom. Each atom is chemically identified by time of flight spectrometry. Additionally, the impact coordinates on a position sensitive detector are stored for every removed atom. From this collected dataset a reconstruction of the eroded specimen becomes possible. The development of atom probe tomography started in the first half of the 20 th century and is based on the field ion microscope (FIM) developed by Erwin Müller in 1952. 


 Field Ion Microscopy


Atom Probe Tomography