Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry Imaging

Introduction Secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) is a chemical analysis technique that employs mass spectrometry to analyze solid and low volatility liquid samples [1]. Although there are numerous configurations of SIMS instrumentation, the fundamental basis of SIMS analyses is the measurement of the mass and intensity of secondary ions produced in a vacuum by sputtering the surface of the sample with energetic ion or neutral beams. The sputtering beam is referred to as the primary beam and typically has a kinetic energy of several thousand electronvolts (keV). The primary beam removes atomic or molecular layers at a rate determined principally by the intensity, mass, and energy of the primary species and the chemical and physical characteristics of the sample [2]. Particle sputtering at the kiloelectronvolt level produces a variety of products including electrons, photons, atoms, atomic clusters, intact molecules, and distinctive molecular fragments. A small fraction of these sputter products are ionized, and these ions are the secondary ions in secondary ion mass spectrometry.