In Search of the Chimera: Molecular Imaging in the Atom-Probe

Atom probe tomography analysis of poly(3‐alkylthiophene)s

“…In order for APT to evolve into an accepted metrology for the life sciences, there are a number challenges to overcome (Panitz, 2005; Braet et al , 2006; Heeren et al , 2006): (1) specimen preparation techniques need to be developed to fashion or deposit the materials of interest into shapes suitable for APT and/or local‐electrode APT (Larson & Kelly, 2006) analysis, (2) controlled field evaporation of material from those specimens needs to be demonstrated, (3) specimen stability (both minimization of potential surface diffusion and bulk stability) under high‐field conditions needs to be verified to ensure an ability to reconstruct static spatial information, (4) fragmentation variability needs to be understood to support compatibility with available reconstruction methods and finally (5) correlation with currently accepted analytical methods must be established to overcome discipline‐specific barriers preventing large‐scale adoption by practitioners in the field. Many of these challenges are remnants of relevant work done in field‐electron emission and field‐ion microscopies (Müller, 1950; Abbott, 1965; Müller & Rendulic, 1967; Machlin et al , 1975; Panitz & Giaver, 1981; Panitz, 1982a, b).…”

Atom Probe Microscopy of Self-Assembled Monolayers: Preliminary Results

“…6 Although individual micrographs were produced, and 3D topographical information was obtained by acquiring a series of images and performing tomographic reconstruction, 7 experiments were difficult to reproduce, and the interpretation of the results was questionable. 8 Building on the capabilities for atomic-resolution imaging of surfaces of the fieldion microscope (FIM), APT is an analytical microscopy technique that supplies tomographic (3D) images of the distribution of individual atoms from the bulk of a specimen 9 with a very high spatial resolution. 10 direct, analytical high-resolution imaging, 11 few studies on organics have been undertaken and these were mostly done using instruments without three-dimensional capabilities.…”

“…Since the early days of field-ion microscopy (FIM), attempts at imaging molecular or biological material at a sub-nanometer scale have been undertaken . Although individual micrographs were produced, and 3D topographical information was obtained by acquiring a series of images and performing tomographic reconstruction, experiments were difficult to reproduce, and the interpretation of the results was questionable . Building on the capabilities for atomic-resolution imaging of surfaces of the field-ion microscope (FIM), APT is an analytical microscopy technique that supplies tomographic (3D) images of the distribution of individual atoms from the bulk of a specimen with a very high spatial resolution .…”