| AVS 63rd International Symposium & Exhibition | |
| Applied Surface Science | Thursday Sessions |
| Session AS+SS-ThM |
| Session: | Depth Profiling, Buried Interfaces, and 3D Analyses |
| Presenter: | David Carr, Physical Electronics |
| Authors: | D.M. Carr, Physical Electronics G.L. Fisher, Physical Electronics S.R. Bryan, Physical Electronics S. Iida, ULVAC-PHI, Japan T. Miyayama, ULVAC-PHI, Japan |
| Correspondent: | Click to Email |
1. Introduction
Probing the sample chemistry beyond the surface region with ion beam sputtering is subject to practical limitations which include preferential sputtering, accumulated sputter beam damage, inclusions, and voids. These effects can result in a distortion or complete loss of the true chemical distribution as a function of depth.
In situ FIB milling and sectioning with TOF-SIMS chemical imaging (3D FIB-TOF tomography [1]) is an alternative approach to achieve 3D chemical imaging of complex matrix chemistries. The FIB milling can minimize or eliminate artifacts caused by sputter depth profiling from the surface.
For matrices with organics components, however, FIB beam-induced chemical or molecular damage may limit the detection of characteristic molecular signals. The characteristic molecular signals can often be recovered with cluster ion polishing to remove the organic FIB damage.
2. Method
The 3D chemical characterization of organic and organic/inorganic mixed composition structures was achieved utilizing FIB-TOF on a PHI TRIFT nanoTOF II (Physical Electronics, USA) imaging mass spectrometer equipped with the new parallel imaging MS/MS [2,3]. The spectrometer’s large angular acceptance and depth-of-field maintain high mass resolution and high mass scale linearity in this challenging geometry.
3. Results
Results will be presented for structures with mixed organic phases and mixed organic/inorganic phases. The FIB-TOF results will be compared with corresponding sputter depth profiling results to highlight the relative advantages of the two techniques along with potential complicating factors to the analyses. The high sensitivity of the TOF-SIMS technique is not limited to strong organic matrix peaks. Data will be presented showing the ability to probe the 3D distribution of polymer additives in a sample. The identity of the additives is confirmed using the newly developed parallel imaging MS/MS option for the nanoTOF II. The ability to study buried organic structures with FIB-TOF and then conclusively identify the detected species using MS/MS is a powerful new development for the field of TOF-SIMS.
4. References[1] A. Wucher, G.L. Fisher and C.M. Mahoney, Three-Dimensional Imaging with Cluster Ion Beams (p. 207-246) in Cluster Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry: Principles and Applications, C.M. Mahoney (Ed.), Wiley & Sons, N.J. (2013).
[2] P.E. Larson, J.S. Hammond, R.M.A. Heeren, G.L. Fisher, Method and Apparatus to Provide Parallel Acquisition of MS/MS Data, U.S. Patent 20150090874, 2015.
[3] G.L. Fisher, J.S. Hammond, P.E. Larson, S.R. Bryan, R.M.A. Heeren, SIMS XX Proceedings, D. Castner (Ed.), Wiley, N.J. (2016) DOI: 10.1116/1.4943568.