title: Spatial decomposition of molecular ions within 3D atom probe reconstructions.
abstract: Two methods for separating the constituent atoms of molecular ions within atom probe tomography reconstructions are presented. The Gaussian Separation Method efficiently deconvolutes molecular ions containing two constituent atoms and is tested on simulated data before being applied to an experimental HSLA steel dataset containing NbN. The Delaunay Separation Method extends separation to larger complex ions and is also tested on simulated data before being applied to an experimental GaAs dataset containing many large (>3 atoms) complex ions. First nearest neighbour (1NN) distributions and images of the reconstruction before and after the separations are used to show the effect of the algorithms and their validity and practicality are also discussed.
authors.affiliation: School of Aerospace, Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering, The University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia; Australian Centre for Microscopy and Microanalysis, Madsen Building F09, The University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia.
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Breen
authors.forename: Michael P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Moody
authors.forename: Baptiste
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Gault
authors.forename: Anna V
authors.initials: AV
authors.lastname: Ceguerra
authors.forename: Kelvin Y
authors.initials: KY
authors.lastname: Xie
authors.forename: Sichao
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Du
authors.forename: Simon P
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: Ringer
keywords: Atom probe tomography; Complex molecular ions; Delaunay tessellation; Nearest neighbour analysis