Helium ion microscope – secondary ion mass spectrometry for geological materials

Abstract

The helium ion microscope (HIM) is a focussed ion beam instrument with unprecedented spatial resolution for secondary electron imaging but has traditionally lacked microanalytical capabilities. With the addition of the secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) attachment, the capabilities of the instrument have expanded to microanalysis of isotopes from Li up to hundreds of atomic mass units, effectively opening up the analysis of all natural and geological systems. However, the instrument has thus far been underutilised by the geosciences community, due in no small part to a lack of a thorough understanding of the quantitative capabilities of the instrument. Li represents an ideal element for an exploration of the instrument as a tool for geological samples, due to its importance for economic geology and a green economy, and the difficult nature of observing Li with traditional microanalytical techniques. Also Li represents a “best-case” scenario for isotopic measurements. Here we present details of sample preparation, instrument sensitivity, theoretical, and measured detection limits for both elemental and isotopic analysis as well as practicalities for geological sample analyses of Li alongside a discussion of potential geological use cases of the HIM–SIMS instrument.

Highest resolution chemical imaging based on secondary ion mass spectrometry performed on the helium ion microscope

“…To date, few studies have started on this subject, but due to the high spatial resolution of this instrument, it is obvious that soon subjects related to the localisation and characterisation of nano domains, such as the edges of the grains, can be realised simply and practicably. We can all the same cite the first works carried out on chalks, meteorites, particles of soil and natural zircon grain [235][236][237].…”

“…Photovoltaic materials Photovoltaic materials [242]; battery Depth profiling of multi-layered Oxydation mechanisms in that have been reported [1,204,215,216,218]; materials [242]; microelectronics structures [241]; tracking of superalloys [251] in literature battery materials [221]; [243]; thin films [242]; nanoparticles impurities [244]; optical fibres conservation science, archaeometry microelectronics [1]; [243]; nanotoxicology [242]; cellular and insulators [245,246]; battery and cosmochemistry [250] plastics [205]; thin imaging in biological tissues [242] materials [241,247]; segregation in films [227]; nanoparticles alloys [241]; nanoparticles [248] [38, 228]; nanotoxicology [38,[229][230][231]; cellular imaging in biological tissues [38,[229][230][231]; bacteria [39,232]; geology [52,235,236];…”

An Analytical TOOLBOX for the Characterization of Chalks and Other Fine-Grained Rock Types within Enhanced Oil Recovery Research and Its Application—A Guideline

“…Methods that can be applied routinely because they have been tested and sample preparation has been developed for the noted issue of resolution and high-resolution imaging at the same time are TEM-EDS (transmission electron microscopy coupled with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy) and MLA (mineral liberation analyser) if the phases are not smaller than 1 micron. In the near future, further developed applications like HIM-SIMS (helium ion microscopy coupled with secondary ion mass spectrometry; [16,17] and RAMAN-SEM (Raman spectroscopy coupled with scanning electron microscopy) will be able to match the same objective [18,19].…”