In 1973 J. A. Panitz introduced the 10 cm Atom Probe as a “new and simple atom probe which permits rapid, in depth species identification or the more usual atom-by atom analysis provided by its predecessors ... in an instrument having a volume of less than two liters in which tip movement is unnecessary and the problems of evaporation pulse stability and alignment common to previous designs have been eliminated.” [14]

This was accomplished by combining Time of Flight Mass Spectrometry with a proximity focussed, dual channel plate detector, an 11.8 cm drift region and a 38° field of view. An FIM image or a desorption image of the atoms removed from the apex of a sample called a field emitter tip could be obtained. [8,10] [73] The 10-cm Atom-Probe is recognized as the progenitor of all the atom probes that followed, including commercial instruments [16]