Method combining scanning tunneling microscopy and atom probe tomography for observing inside of materials

Abstract

In this paper, we demonstrate the feasibility of a method combining scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and atom probe tomography (APT). In this method, an atomically smooth or flat surface for STM observation is prepared by field evaporation using an APT system. The chemical composition of the surface obtained by APT can be used to analyze the results of STM. By developing this method, it is expected that local and very fine structures inside materials can be observed with true atomic resolution. We also demonstrate that nanoscale corrugation, which has a strong effect on the reconstruction procedure in the analysis of APT data, can be observed by STM.