Field ion microscopy (FIM) is an analytical technique used in materials science. The field ion microscope is a type of microscope that can be used to image the arrangement of atoms at the surface of a sharp metal tip. It was the first technique by which individual atoms could be spatially resolved. The technique was pioneered by Erwin Müller. Images of atomic structures of tungsten were first published in 1951 in the journal Zeitschrift für Physik. The Materials Science Tetrahedron, which often also includes Characterization at the center Materials science is an interdisciplinary field involving the properties of matter and its applications to various areas of science and engineering. ... A 1915 Bausch and Lomb Optical microscope. ... Atomic redirects here. ... Erwin Wilhelm Müller (June 13, 1911 – May 17, 1977) was a German-born physicist who invented the field emission microscope, the field ion microscope, and the atom probe. ... General Name, Symbol, Number tungsten, W, 74 Chemical series transition metals Group, Period, Block 6, 6, d Appearance grayish white, lustrous Atomic mass 183. ...

In FIM, a sharp metal tip is produced and placed in an ultra high vacuum chamber, which is backfilled with an imaging gas such as helium or neon. The tip is cooled to cryogenic temperatures (20–100 K). A positive voltage of 5000 to 10 000 volts is applied to the tip. Gas atoms adsorbed on the tip are ionized by the strong electric field in the vicinity of the tip (thus, "field ionization"), becoming positively charged and being repelled from the tip. The curvature of the surface near the tip causes a natural magnification — ions are repelled in a direction roughly perpendicular to the surface (a "point projection" effect). A detector is placed so as to collect these repelled ions; the image formed from all the collected ions can be of sufficient resolution to image individual atoms on the tip surface. Ultra high vacuum (UHV) is the regime of characterised by pressures lower than about 10-7 Pascal or 100 nanopascals (~10-9 torr). ... General Name, Symbol, Number helium, He, 2 Chemical series noble gases Group, Period, Block 18, 1, s Appearance colorless Atomic mass 4. ... General Name, Symbol, Number neon, Ne, 10 Chemical series noble gases Group, Period, Block 18, 2, p Appearance colorless Atomic mass 20. ... International safety symbol Caution, risk of electric shock (ISO 3864), colloquially known as high voltage symbol. ... Josephson junction array chip developed by NIST as a standard volt. ... Adsorption is a process that occurs when a gas or liquid or solute (called adsorbate) accumulates on the surface of a solid or more rarely a liquid (adsorbent), forming a molecular or atomic film (adsorbate). ... It has been suggested that optical field be merged into this article or section. ... Multivalent redirects here. ...

Unlike conventional microscopes, where the spatial resolution is limited by the wavelength of the particles which are used for imaging, the FIM is a projection type microscope with atomic resolution and an approximate magnification of a few million times.

See also

• Atom Probe
• Electron microscope
• Field emission microscope
• List of surface analysis methods

The atom probe is an atomic-resolution microscope used in materials science that was invented in 1967 by Erwin Müller. ... This article does not cite its references or sources. ... Microscope that can view atoms through a concave lens Invented in the 1930s Powerful lens A state ... List of surface analysis methods LIBS - Laser induced breakdown spectroscopy EBSD - Electron backscatter diffraction XRF - X-ray fluorescence analysis LOES - Laser optical emission spectroscopy LS - Light (Raman) scattering IRS - Infra Red spectroscopy SEIRA -Surface enhanced infrared absorption spectroscopy FTIR - Fourier transform infrared absorption spectroscopy; e. ...

External links

• Northwestern University Center for Atom-Probe Tomography
• Photograph of tungsten needle tip imaged through FIM