Atom probe

Oxford nanoScience has announced a breakthrough in 3-Dimensional Atom Probe (3DAP) technology. By using a femtosecond laser to evaporate atoms from samples, high resistivity materials such as undoped silicon can now be analysed.

Conventional 3DAP systems require a high voltage pulse to be applied to the tip of the specimen to evaporate the atoms, which has in the past restricted the application to conducting samples only. However, laser evaporation allows examination of both conducting samples and those with high resistance.

Oxford nanoScience Managing Director, Richard Davies, said: "This is one of the most significant developments to date for the 3DAP technique. The semiconductor industry has been aware for many years of the capabilities of 3DAP for metals and alloys. Now, for the first time, we have the technology to allow the evaporation, counting, identification and spatial location of individual atoms in a semiconductor sample to produce a 3-dimensional visualisation of the atomic arrangement within that sample."