Atom probe tomography for advanced materials studies in 3D.

A consortium composed of research units from KU Leuven, Universiteit Hasselt and UGent has the ambition to create an atomprobe tomography user facility at the disposal for Flemisch research purposes. This emerging technology offers mind-blowing insight in the atomic composition of advanced materials or complex 3-dimensional nanostructures. This technique allows to reconstruct a digital image of the atomic composition of materials with absolute atom identification, quantification and a 3 dimensional spatial resolution at the near-atomic scale in the order of 0.2~0.3 nm. The acquired atomprobe instrument is unique in Flanders and is expected to yield a major impact on current research programs with respect to advanced material and further initiate novel innovation programs enabled by this technology.