FIBSIMS: A review of secondary ion mass spectrometry for analytical dual beam focussed ion beam instruments

Potential of gas-assisted time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry for improving the elemental characterization of complex metal-based systems

“…This can explain the modified measured contribution of 91 Zr + ions having the same mass as 63 Cu 28 Si + . 92 Zr + and 63 Cu 29 Si + also have the same masses, however 29 Si isotope constitutes only a minor fraction of the total Si ions (4.7 % compared to 92.2 % of 28 Si). Although a cluster of five water ions ( 16 O5 1 H10 + ) has the same mass as 90 Zr + , the mass interference seems to be highly unlikely, as in the case of measurements without any gas, and with water vapor the measured 90 Zr + contribution was lower than expected.…”

“…The presence of oxygen 2,9,12 , water [13][14][15][16] and fluorine [16][17][18][19] have been shown to facilitate positive ion production, whilst Cs 9,[20][21][22][23][24][25][26] was found to increase negative ion yields. The development of compact high-vacuum (HV) compatible TOF-SIMS detectors [27][28][29] , which can be integrated within Focused Ion Beam/Scanning Electron Microscope (FIB/SEM) instruments, gives a new opportunity for performing elemental analysis assisted using a supplementary gas delivered by a Gas Injection System (GIS). To verify the potential and limitations of a gas-assisted TOF-SIMS analysis, we have launched a systematic study on dedicated inorganic thin films in high vacuum conditions.…”

Application of FIB-SEM Techniques for the Advanced Characterization of Earth and Planetary Materials

“…The ion beam current of commercial FIB system is less than 100 nA, and the best resolution is about 2.5 nm at 30 kV, as shown in Table 2. More recently, other types of ion sources such as He, Xe, and Ne have been developed as promising sources for many applications [25,102,103]. Helium ion microscopy has been proven to be an alternative to SEM and FIB in some fields providing higher resolution (~0.5 nm) and a larger depth of field, which can help one obtain finer details on material surfaces with no charging effects.…”

“…Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) is the most wildly used method for measuring major elements (0.1 at %) in a sample, and its elemental detection range is 4Be~92 U [ 25 ]. Unlike EDS, wavelength dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (WDS) improves the elemental detection limit and energy resolutions, allowing the detection and quantification of major and trace elements by comparing the measured X-ray intensity with that of a standard sample.…”

SIMS Detector on FIB/SEM DualBeam Microscopes for Material Science Applications

“…First, we give a short overview and discussion of the pros and cons of current mass analyzers FIB/SEM microscopes. Results presented in this paper were mainly acquired from a gallium FIB DualBeam with a compact ToF SIMS detector added on to it [2,3], although plasma FIB Xe+ beam is also mentioned.…”