Correlating laser energy with compositional and atomic-level information of oxides in atom probe tomography

Atom probe tomography (APT) is a 3D analysis technique that offers unique chemical accuracy and sensitivity with sub-nanometer spatial resolution. There an increasing interest in the application of APT to complex oxides materials, giving new insight into relation between local variations composition emergent physical properties. However, contrast field metallurgy, where routinely applied study materials at atomic level, their specific evaporation mechanisms are much less explored. Here, we perform measurements on hexagonal manganite ErMnO3 systematically effect different experimental parameters measured structure. We demonstrate both mass resolving power (MRP) compositional can be improved by charge-state ratio (CSR) working low laser energy (< 5 pJ) for given fixed detection rate. Furthermore, observe substantial preferential retention Er atoms, which suppressed higher CSRs. explain our findings based fundamental concepts, expanding knowledge about impact key process general.