When TOF-SIMS was introduced in the early 80's, it appeared to be the ideal instrument for surface analysis in static SIMS mode. It's most striking features were a very high transmission close to 100 %, a parallel detection of all masses and an unlimited mass range. At that time, the current density of the pulsed primary ion beam was so low that the lifetime of the uppermost monolayer exceeded thousands of seconds. Early applications of TOF-SIMS focused on the analysis of involatile molecules, prepared as thin layers on metal substrates. Improvements in mass resolution to a level above 10,000 and the development of an efficient charge compensation opened many new fields in surface analysis, like the detection of trace elements and surface analysis of bulk organic materials such as polymers. The combination with liquid metal ion guns towards the end of the 80's added powerful imaging capabilities with a lateral resolution well in the sub-micron range. In the mid 90's, TOF-SIMS started to become a depth profiling technique using the so-called dual beam mode. A low energy sputter gun was applied for sample erosion with a reasonable speed while the center of the sputter crater was analyzed with the pulsed high energy beam. In the recent years, TOF-SIMS has become a very powerful depth profiling technique with applications ranging from the analysis of ultra-shallow implants to the profiling of thick films. The combination of a small spot analytical beam with a low energy sputter beam offers new capabilities in 3-dimensional micro analysis. In this paper recent developments in TOF-SIMS instrumentation will be discussed and analytical examples from a variety of different fields will be given to highlight the capabilities of the technique.