AVS 60th International Symposium and Exhibition
    Nanometer-scale Science and Technology Wednesday Sessions
       Session NS+AS+BI+SP-WeM

Paper NS+AS+BI+SP-WeM2
Imaging Li and B in a Glass Sample with 100nm Lateral Resolution Using NanoSIMS

Wednesday, October 30, 2013, 8:20 am, Room 203 B

Session: Nanoscale Imaging and Microscopy
Presenter: Z. Zhu, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Authors: Z. Zhu, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Y. Wang, University of Florida
J. Crum, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Z. Wang, Chinese Academy of Science
Correspondent: Click to Email
A widely used method to immobilize nuclear wastes is fusing them into glasses. These proposed glass waste forms are multicomponent complex material with the common components of Li and B compounds. During the fast cooling process, phase separation occurs in the form of 200-500 nm clusters and the glass matrix. It is difficult for commonly-used surface analysis tools (e.g., X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Auger electron spectroscopy, scanning electron microscope/energy dispersive spectroscopy (SEM/EDX), and transmission electron microscope/energy dispersive spectroscopy (TEM/EDX)) to characterize the distributions of ultra-light elements like Li and B in these two phases. For example, although TEM/EDX characterization can show mapping of heavy elements in the two phases, this technique is not ideal to identify the location of ultra-light elements, such as Li and B, because the sensitivity of EDX analysis for Li and B is poor. NanoSIMS can provide nano-scale spatial resolution (down to 50 nm) as well as excellent sensitivity for Li and B, making it a good candidate to image Li and B in the glass sample. We have used NanoSIMS to map Li and B in the glass sample with a lateral resolution of ≤ 100 nm. NanoSIMS images clearly show enrichment of both Li and B in the matrix phase.