The 10 cm Atom Probe

A novel atom probe is described which can determine the mass-to-charge ratios of all ion species produced during a single desorption event or of individual species at several preselected crystallographic locations during each desorption event. This is accomplished without tip movement in an instrument no larger than a conventional field ion microscope by using a new channel plate photomultiplier detector. Alignment, aiming, and pulse stability problems common to all previous designs have been eliminated. Although the present mass resolution is 4 amu at m/n = 184/3, single isotope resolution, if desired, seems possible.