High spatial resolution 3D analysis of materials using gallium focused ion beam secondary ion mass spectrometry (FIB SIMS)

Abstract

The sharpness and high density of focused ion beams (FIB) enable micromachining of materials. When a gallium FIB is used as a primary beam for secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS), 2D analysis with submicron resolution is easily achieved. In situ combination of micromachining and high spatial resolution analysis brings a new field of microbeam analysis of materials. The gallium FIB SIMS apparatus was developed by combining a FIB and a plane-focusing mass analyzer equipped with a multichannel ion detection system (120 channel). Both a high-spatial resolution and a large sputtering rate are realized. Multielement parallel detection has a great advantage for obtaining precise distribution of elements in microstructure samples. In this paper, a new type of 3D analysis and depth profiling technique is introduced and applied to single particle analyses. A spatial resolution of 50 nm for 3D analysis and a depth resolution up to 5 nm were realized by using these methods.