Influence of surface migration on the spatial resolution of pulsed laser atom probe tomography

The impact of laser pulsing on the field evaporation process is investigated for Al and W by pulsed laser atom probe tomography. Quantitative analysis reveals the influence on the spatial resolution of the peak temperature,reached by the specimen following light absorption from the laser pulse. It is concluded that surface migration processes induce significant degradation of the lateral resolution, changing by 100% and 20%, respectively, for Al and W when the specimen temperature is increased from 4% to 7% of the material's melting point, while the in-depth resolution is shown to remain nearly constant for both materials. (C) 2010 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3462399]