Secondary ion mass spectrometry has been used for in-depth characterization of materials and process for over 30 years. This talk will first touch briefly on history of SIMS depth profiling and then will review current state-of-the-art examples in semiconductors materials as well as in other areas as diverse from IC chips as potato chip bags and, yes, even the kitchen sink. Semiconductor areas will include, among others: profiling of ion implants with energies of a few hundred eV to a few million eV, along with high precision dose determination; and analyses of dopants and matrix elements in areas only a few 10’s of um@super 2@. In addition, the talk will illustrate the utility of backside polishing for sample preparation.