Abstract
Among other characterization techniques, secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) is of particular interest due to its unprecedented sensitivity and ability for detection of low concentrations of practically any element of the periodic table with large spatial resolution. At present time SIMS is a primary tool used in both industry and research areas and also highly relevant for analysis of nano-scaled materials. However, SIMS is a quite complicated technique, where deep understanding the physical processes involved is vitally required for a correct interpretation of the results obtained. Therefore, in the present chapter special attention is paid to the basic principles of SIMS as well as complicating factors affecting the measurements. In the first part of the chapter, devoted to the basics of SIMS, two fundamental processes (sputtering and ionization) are described in some detail. After that the main types of modern SIMS instruments are reviewed, describing the different primary ion sources and the variety of mass spectrometers for detecting secondary ions. Finally, the main operation modes of SIMS instruments are described in conjunction with examples of SIMS applications with complicating factors and practical problems that are encountered.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Thompson, J. J. (1910). Rays of positive electricity. Philosophical Magazine, 20, 252.
Herzog, R. F. K., & Viehbock, F. P. (1949). Ion source for mass spectrography. Physical Review, 76, 855L.
Herzog, R.F.K., Poschenreider, W.P., & Satkiewicz, F.G. (1967). NASA, Contract No NAS5-9254, final report GCA-TR-67-3N.
Sigmund, P. (1969). Theory of sputtering. Physical Review, 184, 383.
Zalm, P. C. (1994). Secondary ion mass spectrometry. Vacuum, 45, 753.
Morris, R. J. H., & Dowsett, M. G. (2009). Ion yields and erosion rates for Si1−xGex (0≤x≤1) ultralow energy O2+ secondary ion mass spectrometry in the energy range of 0.25–1 keV. Journal of Applied Physics, 105, 114316.
Balden, M., Bardamid, A. F., Belyaeva, A. I., Slatin, K. A., Davis, J. W., Haasz, A. A., Poon, M., Konovalov, V. G., Ryzhkov, I. V., Shapoval, A. N., & Voitsenya, V. S. (2004). Surface roughening and grain orientation dependence of the erosion of polycrystalline stainless steel by hydrogen irradiation. Journal of Nuclear Materials, 329–333, 1515.
Nørskov, J. K., & Lundqvist, B. I. (1979). Secondary-ion emission probability in sputtering. Physical Review B, 19, 5661.
Evans Analytical Group (www.eag.com)
IONTOF GmbH (www.iontof.com)
Wolf, B. (Ed.). (2017). Handbook of ion sources (p. 560). CRC Press.
Krohn, V. E. (1962). Emission of negative ions from metal surfaces bombarded by positive cesium ions. Journal of Applied Physics, 33, 3523.
Taylor, G. (1964). Disintegration of water droplets in an electric field. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series A, 280, 383.
Li, Y., Wang, S., & Smith, S. P. (2006). SIMS analysis of nitrogen in various metals and ZnO. Applied Surface Science, 252, 7066.
Ber, B.Ya., Kazantsev, D.Yu., Kalinina, E.V., Kovarskii, A.P., Kossov, V.G., Hallen, A., Yafaev, R.R. (2004). Determination of nitrogen in silicon carbide by secondary ion mass spectrometry. Journal of Analytical Chemistry 59, 250 (2004).
Jakiela, R., Barcz, A., Sarnecki, J., & Celler, G. K. (2018). Ultrahigh sensitivity SIMS analysis of oxygen in silicon. Surface and Interface Analysis, 50, 729.
Michałowski, P. P., Gaca, J., Wójcik, M., & Turos, A. (2018). Oxygen out-diffusion and compositional changes in zinc oxide during ytterbium ions bombardment. Nanotechnology, 29, 425710.
Saka, S. K., Vogts, A., Kröhnert, K., Hillion, F., Rizzoli, S. O., & Wessels, J. T. (2014). Correlated optical and isotopic nanoscopy. Nature Communications, 5, 8.
Wirtz, T., Fleming, Y., Gerard, M., Gysin, U., Glatzel, T., Meyer, E., Wegmann, U., Maier, U., Odriozola, A. H., & Uehli, D. (2012). Design and performance of a combined secondary ion mass spectrometry-scanning probe microscopy instrument for high sensitivity and high-resolution elemental three-dimensional analysis. Review of Scientific Instruments, 83, 063702.
Ruf, T., Henn, R.W., Asen-Palmer, M., Gmelin, E., Cardona, M., Pohl, H.-J., Devyatych, G.G., Sennikov, P.G. (2000). Thermal conductivity of isotopically enriched silicon. Solid State Communications 115, 243 (2000)
Azarov, A., Venkatachalapathy, V., Mei, Z., Liu, L., Du, X., Galeckas, A., Monakhov, E., Svensson, B. G., & Kuznetsov, A. (2016). Self-diffusion measurements in isotopic heterostructures of undoped and in situ doped ZnO: zinc vacancy energetics. Physical Review B, 94, 195208.
Michałowski, P. P., Grzanka, E., Grzanka, S., Lachowski, A., Staszczak, G., Plesiewicz, J., Leszczyński, M., & Turos, A. (2019). Indium concentration fluctuations in InGaN/GaN quantum wells. Journal of Analytical Atomic Spectrometry, 34, 1718.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2023 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Azarov, A. (2023). Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (SIMS). In: Analytical Methods and Instruments for Micro- and Nanomaterials. Lecture Notes in Nanoscale Science and Technology, vol 23. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-26434-4_6
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-26434-4_6
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-031-26433-7
Online ISBN: 978-3-031-26434-4
eBook Packages: Chemistry and Materials ScienceChemistry and Material Science (R0)