Negative ion images generated by tetracyanoethylene (TCNE) under inverted field conditions in a field ion microscope have been investigated in more detail. The experiments confirm previous findings / I / and reveal further unique ionization phenomena such as the discontinuous development of ring structures in the ion image, the oscillation of rings in size and switching between different ion em...

The effects of field-evaporation rate on the quantitative chemical analysis of materials by atom-probe field-ion microscopy are considered. Examples of erroneously high measured values of the Ti concentration in Mo-1.0 at.% Ti and Mo-1.0 at.% Ti-0.08 at.% Zr (TZM) alloys are presented and the cause is shown to have been due to a high field-evaporation rate. The basic arguments used to explain t...

Focused ion beam (FIB) techniques have found many applications in nanoscience and nanotechnology applications in recent years. However, not much work has been done using FIB to fabricate carbon nanotube devices. This is mainly due to the fact that carbon nanotubes are very fragile and energetic ion beam from FIB can easily damage the carbon nanotubes. Here we report the fabrication of carbon na...

Needle-shaped atom probe specimens containing a single grain boundary were produced using the focused ion beam (FIB) of a two-beam FIB/SEM (scanning electron microscope) system. The presented specimen preparation approach allows the unprecedented study of a grain boundary which is well characterised in its crystallographic orientation by means of the field ion microscope (FIM) and the tomograph...

Field ion microscopy (FIM) was the first technique to image individual atoms on surface of a material. By careful control field evaporation atoms, bulk material is exposed, and, through digital processing sequence micrographs, an atomically-resolved three-dimensional reconstruction can be achieved. 3DFIM particularly suited direct observation crystalline defects that underpin physical propertie...