grAtom Probe Tomography
APT is a nanoscale chemical analysis technique, that uses a process of field evaporation to dismantle a single atom at a time from a tip of a very sharp specimen and the evaporated atoms are mapped on to a position sensitive detector which is used to create a 3D atomic reconstruction of the specimen. Elements identified by concurrent time of flight mass spectrometry.
APT data offers a unique 3D view of atomic segregation and has a wide range of applications across several fields of science, including materials science, geology and nanotechnology. In the field of metallurgy, it is often used to investigate initial state of precipitation and phase transformations, grain boundary chemistry and corrosion interfaces.