An in-situ approach for preparing atom probe tomography specimens by xenon plasma-focussed ion beam

J E Halpin; R W H Webster; H Gardner; M P Moody; P A J Bagot; D A MacLaren

doi:10.1016/j.ultramic.2019.04.005

An in-situ approach for preparing atom probe tomography specimens by xenon plasma-focussed ion beam

Ultramicroscopy. 2019 Jul:202:121-127. doi: 10.1016/j.ultramic.2019.04.005. Epub 2019 Apr 12.

Authors

J E Halpin¹, R W H Webster¹, H Gardner², M P Moody², P A J Bagot³, D A MacLaren¹

Affiliations

¹ SUPA, School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QQ, UK.
² Department of Materials, University of Oxford, Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PH, UK.
³ Department of Materials, University of Oxford, Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PH, UK. Electronic address: paul.bagot@materials.ox.ac.uk.

PMID: 31005819
DOI: 10.1016/j.ultramic.2019.04.005

Abstract

A method for the rapid preparation of atom probe tomography (APT) needles using a xenon plasma-focussed ion beam (FIB) instrument is presented and demonstrated on a test sample of Ti-6Al-4V alloy. The method requires significantly less operator input than the standard lift-out protocol, is site-specific and produces needles with minimal ion-beam damage; electron microscopy indicated the needle's surface amorphised/oxidised region to be less than 2 nm thick. The resulting needles were routinely analysable by APT, confirming the expected microstructure and showing negligible Xe contamination.

Keywords: Atom probe tomography; Focussed ion beam; Sample preparation.