Influence of experimental parameters on the composition of precipitates in metallic alloys

Gasnier, Virgile; Gault, Baptiste; Nako, Hidenori; Aruga, Yasuhiro; Sha, Gang; Ringer, Simon P.

doi:10.1016/j.ultramic.2013.02.005

Cited by 7 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 43 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…However, up to now, there was a lack of benchmark against which APT sizes could indeed be measured or estimated. Comparisons with other techniques were reported for features of a size that is large enough to be measured by transmission electron microscopy [53] or secondary-ion mass spectrometry have been reported [54]. However, the match was often poor for smaller features like, for e.g., solute clusters, which remain physically ill-defined and for which there are no reference from real-space analytical techniques.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Metrology of small particles and solute clusters by atom probe tomography

2020

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Atom probe tomography (APT) is routinely used for analyzing property-enhancing particles in the nanometer-size range and below, and plays a prominent role in the analysis of solute clusters. However, the question of how well these small particles are measured has never been addressed because of a lack of a reliable benchmark. Here, to address this critical gap, we use an approach that allows direct comparison of APT and small-angle (X-Ray) scattering (SA(X)S) performed on the same material. We introduce the notion of an effective spatial resolution for the analysis of particles, which, importantly in this context, is very different than the technique's inherent spatial resolution. This effective resolution is highly specific to the system being considered, as well as the analysis conditions. There is no hard limit below which the technique will fail, but for particles with a radius of order of 2σ = 1 nm, i.e. 250 atoms, cannot be accurately measured, even though the particles are detected. This thorough metrological assessment of APT in the analysis of particles allows us to discuss the pulse spread function of the technique and the physics underpinning its limits. We conclude that great care should be taken when analysing solute clusters by APT, in particular when reporting particle size and composition.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Metrology of small particles and solute clusters by atom probe tomography

2020

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The lateral Co concentration distribution through the filaments is challenging to determine accurately, due to experimental artifacts. There is a known artifact during APT field evaporation that arises from two linked sources: the change in dielectric constants in regions of high doping, and the evolution of a locally different radius of curvature due to differing evaporation fields, both causing lateral deviation of electric field lines from the surface-normals assumed during data reconstruction [10][11][12][13] . This causes areas of differing composition to be "magnified" in the reconstructed data.…”

Section: Structural Characterizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Single‐Phase Filamentary Cellular Breakdown Via Laser‐Induced Solute Segregation

Akey

Recht

Williams

et al. 2015

Adv Funct Materials

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Nanosecond melting and quenching of materials offers a pathway to novel structures with unusual properties. Impurity-rich silicon processed using nanosecond-pulsed-laser-melting is known to produce nanoscale features in a process referred to as "cellular breakdown" due to destabilization of the planar liquid/solid interface. Here, we apply atom probe tomography combined with electron microscopy to show that the morphology of cellular breakdown in these materials is significantly more complex than previously documented. We observe breakdown into a complex, branching filamentary structure topped by a few nm of a cell-like layer. Singlephase diamond cubic silicon highly supersaturated with at least 10% atomic Co and no detectable silicides is reported within these filaments. In addition, the unprecedented spatio-chemical accuracy of the atom probe allows us to investigate nanosecond formation dynamics of this 2 complex material. Previously-reported properties of these materials can now be reconsidered in light of their true composition, and this class of inhomogeneous metastable alloys in silicon can be explored with confidence.

show abstract