AVS 56th International Symposium & Exhibition
    Applied Surface Science Thursday Sessions
       Session AS1-ThM

Paper AS1-ThM6
Advances in 2D and 3D TOF-SIMS Imaging of Organics by Means of a C60 Ion Microprobe and FIB Sectioning

Thursday, November 12, 2009, 9:40 am, Room C2

Session: Advances in Surface Analysis
Presenter: G.L. Fisher, Physical Electronics
Authors: G.L. Fisher, Physical Electronics
C. Szakal, National Institute of Standards and Technology
G. Gillen, National Institute of Standards and Technology
S.R. Bryan, Physical Electronics
Correspondent: Click to Email
An alternative approach for chemical imaging the interior of an organic specimen is to utilize FIB sectioning. Publications to date concerning FIB sectioning of organic specimens, e.g. simple biological structures, have been restricted to imaging the inorganic species by SEM-EDS. The union of FIB sectioning and TOF-SIMS analysis to achieve chemical imaging has been impeded by the difficulty of collecting secondary ions from the vertical FIB sidewall that is probed by a primary ion beam. Since the ultimate objective involves 3D reconstruction of successive 2D chemical images, it is highly advantageous to perform consecutive sectioning and analysis cycles without moving the sample. This constraint necessitates probing the vertical sidewall of the FIB-milled crater. Therefore, in order to image the vertical sidewall of a FIB-milled crater without moving (i.e. tilting) the sample, the TOF-SIMS analyzer must have as characteristics a large depth-of-field and a large solid angle-of-collection. In this presentation, new developments concerning the use of a C60 ion microprobe and FIB sectioning for advanced characterization of heterogeneous organic materials will be discussed. The advantages and challenges of joining FIB and TOF-SIMS will be demonstrated and discussed. Finally, we will discuss the application of cluster ion beams to recover the characteristic molecular signals within the FIB-milled area.