On the importance of atom probe tomography for the development of new nanoscale devices

Atom probe tomography is the only technique capable of measuring with sub-nanometer resolution three-dimensional spatial distributions of all chemical elements with no restrictions of mass or atomic number. The technique has been playing an important role in the development of all sorts of semiconductor devices. However, it is still somewhat little-known outside of the most developed parts of the world. Bearing this in mind, this work aims to present and discuss the atom probe tomography technique and, more importantly, its impact on the development of nanoscale devices to the Brazilian Microelectronics Society. First, we introduce the working principles and experimental procedures of atom probe tomography. Next, we present a few real examples of applications of the technique to device development. Lastly, we briefly discuss the possibility of an application that has not been done yet, namely the atom probe tomography of submonolayer quantum dots.