ToF-SIMS Facilities

ToF-SIMS (time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry) is a highly sensitive analysis technique for determining the chemical composition and distribution of a sample surface. It works by striking a solid surface with a series of incident ion sources, which produce secondary ions that can be examined with a time-of-flight mass spectrometer to identify the surface chemistry of the surface or layer. Surface spectroscopy, surface chemical imaging, and depth profiling are some of the uses.

Find Out How ToF-SIMS Works

ToF-SIMS hits the sample surface with pulsed primary ion beams (Cs⁺, Ar⁺, etc) to start a fragmentation cascade. As a result, neutral ions, secondary ions, and electrons are desorption from the sample's initial several monolayers. The secondary ions are then accelerated into the "flight tube," where their mass is measured by monitoring the time it takes them to reach the detector.

The composition of a location on the surface can be described with a single secondary ion mass spectra. A chemical image of the surface can be created by rasterizing the incident beam at many places within a particular surface area. Incident ions, such as Cs⁺, Arn⁺, and C60⁺, can be sputtered through the top layer of inorganic or organic surfaces using the dual-beam approach, while the depth profile of element or molecule species is monitored.

Our ToF-SIMS Facilities

ON-TOF (GmBH) ToF SIMS M6

This instrument is part of IONTOF's latest line of high-end TOF-SIMS instrumentation. Its design ensures that it performs well in all SIMS applications. The M6 is a benchmark for SIMS instruments and an ideal tool for industry and academic research thanks to its revolutionary ion beam and mass analyzer technology.

• It has a mass resolution of more than 30000.
• At the same time, a unique delayed extraction model may achieve high transmission with great lateral and quality resolution.
• For M6, the Nanoprobe 50 is the most recent version of the bismuth cluster ion source. This source generates pulsed primary ion currents of up to 40 pA with a lateral resolution of less than 50 nm.
• It features a dynamic range and detection limit that are unrivaled.
• For molecular structure analysis, it uses TOF MS/MS with CID fragmentation.
• Long-term operation without human involvement with a new and adaptable button-type closed-loop sample heating and cooling technology.
• Advanced software, including a fully integrated multivariate statistical analysis (MVSA) software package.

Fig 1. Time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS) for surface characterization of carbonaceous materials formed during the thermochemical conversion of cellulose. (Grams J, et al. 2013)

Reference

• Grams J, et al. (2013). "Time-of-Flight Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry As A Novel Method for Surface Characterization of Carbonaceous Material Formed During Thermochemical Conversion of Cellulose." International Journal of Mass Spectrometry. 336: 43-46.