Correlated field evaporation as seen by atom probe tomography

We have studied the correlation between field evaporated atoms during an atom probe tomography experiment. The evaporated atoms have been shown to be highly correlated both in time and in space. This correlation can be explained by the dynamic distribution of the electric field at the surface of the sample. The evaporation sequence follows the distribution of zones where the electric field intensity is higher. The distance of correlation between successively evaporated atoms corresponds to the mean size of these zones and the time of correlation corresponds to the mean time necessary to evaporate the entire zone. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.