Digital field ion microscopy

Conference · Thu Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1998

OSTI ID:650378

Sijbrandij, S J; Russell, K F; Miller, M K ^[1]; Thomson, R C ^[2]

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1. Oak Ridge National Lab., TN (United States). Metals and Ceramics Div.
2. Loughborough Univ. (United Kingdom). Inst. of Polymer Technology and Materials Engineering

Due to environmental concerns, there is a trend to avoid the use of chemicals needed to develop negatives and to process photographic paper, and to use digital technologies instead. Digital technology also offers the advantages that it is convenient, as it enables quick access to the end result, allows image storage and processing on computer, allows rapid hard copy output, and simplifies electronic publishing. Recently significant improvements have been made to the performance and cost of camera-sensors and printers. In this paper, field ion images recorded with two digital cameras of different resolution are compared to images recorded on standard 35 mm negative film. It should be noted that field ion images exhibit low light intensity and high contrast. Field ion images were recorded from a standard microchannel plate and a phosphor screen and had acceptance angles of {approximately} 60{degree}. Digital recordings were made with a Digital Vision Technologies (DVT) MICAM VHR1000 camera with a resolution of 752 x 582 pixels, and a Kodak DCS 460 digital camera with a resolution of 3,060 x 2,036 pixels. Film based recordings were made with Kodak T-MAX film rated at 400 ASA. The resolving power of T-MAX film, as specified by Kodak, is between 50 and 125 lines per mm, which corresponds to between 1,778 x 1,181 and 4,445 x 2,953 pixels, i.e. similar to that from the DCS 460 camera. The intensities of the images were sufficient to be recorded with standard fl:1.2 lenses with exposure times of less than 2 s. Many digital cameras were excluded from these experiments due to their lack of sensitivity or the inability to record a full frame image due to the fixed working distance defined by the vacuum system. The digital images were output on a Kodak Digital Science 8650 PS dye sublimation color printer (300 dpi). All field ion micrographs presented were obtained from a Ni-Al-Be specimen.

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Lab., TN (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Energy Research, Washington, DC (United States); Oak Ridge Inst. for Science and Education, TN (United States); Oak Ridge National Lab., TN (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: AC05-96OR22464
• OSTI ID: 650378
• Report Number(s): ORNL/CP--96446; CONF-980713--; ON: DE98005026; BR: KC0201010
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
ALUMINIUM ALLOYS
BERYLLIUM ALLOYS
DIGITAL SYSTEMS
ION MICROSCOPY
MICROSTRUCTURE
NICKEL BASE ALLOYS