| AVS 57th International Symposium & Exhibition | |
| Applied Surface Science | Wednesday Sessions |
| Session AS-WeA |
| Session: | Surface Mass Spectrometry: SIMS and Beyond |
| Presenter: | T. Grehl, ION-TOF GmbH, Germany |
| Authors: | T. Grehl, ION-TOF GmbH, Germany P. Bruener, ION-TOF GmbH, Germany E. Niehuis, ION-TOF GmbH, Germany N. Havercroft, ION-TOF USA, Inc. R. ter Veen, Tascon GmbH, Germany M. Fartmann, Tascon GmbH, Germany D. Breitenstein, Tascon GmbH, Germany |
| Correspondent: | Click to Email |
Due to their extraordinary properties nanoparticles enter more and more fields of industrial production and daily life. They facilitate the protecting effect of sun creams, make car coatings and spectacle lenses scratch resistant and reliably protect shoes from wetness. Nanoparticles with antibacterial properties are used in clothing and refrigerators.
Nanoparticles’ properties are influenced by their high surface to volume ratio. In addition, specifically tailored nanoparticles are increasingly composed of core shell structures. In order to understand and further develop the properties of nanoparticles it is therefore important to develop tools to investigate the elemental and molecular composition of their surfaces and interfaces.
Two ion beam technologies show promising features in this respect: On the one hand Time-of-Flight Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (ToF-SIMS) is able to probe the outermost 3-5 atomic layers of a sample. It reveals the elemental as well as the molecular composition of the samples’ surface in a semi-quantitative manner. On the other hand, Low Energy Ion Scattering (LEIS) is a quantitative technique to probe the elemental composition of the outermost atomic layer. Combining these two complementary techniques allows a comprehensive overview on the sample composition.
In our study we will present combined ToF-SIMS and LEIS data on model-nanoparticle systems and will give examples for their prospects to enable nanoparticle development, product control and failure analysis. Amongst others, the layer growth of a shell of Al2O3 on LiMn2O4 nanoparticles deposited by an ALD process was investigated. Both techniques are able to determine the increased coverage of the core. While ToF-SIMS yields additional information about organic residues, LEIS is able to quantify the surface composition and assess the integrity of the layer.