Field Evaporation

Field Evaporation is the phenomena that atoms are ionized at the presence of extremely high electric field of the order of a few V/nm. Such high electric field can only be achieved by applying high voltage to a sharp needle like specimen. Thus, field evaporation can be observed only in Field Ion Microscopy (FIM) or scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). The following Quick Time movie shows field evaporating tungsten atoms from the tip apex surface of a tungsten specimen observed by FIM. The atoms start evaporation (ionization) when the electric field much higher than the field to image FIM. Atom probe measure the time-of-flight of the ions field evaporated from the surface of FIM tip by controlled application of high frequency pulses.


Figure 1 FIM image observing field evaporation of tungsten atoms


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