Identification of 2D boundaries from 3D atom probe data, and spatial correlation of atomic distributions with interfaces

The Three Dimensional Atom Probe produces a real space map of the elemental identities and positions of atoms field-evaporated from a sharply pointed specimen. The analyzed volume is on the order of 20 nm × 20 nm × 100 nm. This is large enough to enclose microstructural features such as grain- or heterophase boundaries. Correlation of the measured atomic positions with such features results in an atom-by-atom description of the chemical environment of these crystallographic defects. We describe here a method for identifying these interfaces and profiling the composition in the vicinity of the interfaces without any assumptions about the interface geometry. This approach is applied to quantitative determination of interfacial segregation of Ag at a MgO/Cu(Ag) heterophase interface. We discuss the implications of our technique with respect to classical treatments of segregation at interfaces.