Spatial decomposition of molecular ions within 3D atom probe reconstructions

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.