atom probe

atom probe

[′ad·əm ‚prōb]

(engineering)

An instrument for identifying a single atom or molecule on a metal surface; it consists of a field ion microscope with a probe hole in its screen opening into a mass spectrometer; atoms that are removed from the specimen by pulsed field evaporation fly through the probe hole and are detected in the mass spectrometer.

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.