Numerical investigation of depth profiling capabilities of helium and neon ions in ion microscopy
The analysis of polymers by secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) has been a topic of interest for many years. In recent years, the primary ion species evolved from heavy monatomic ions to cluster and massive cluster primary ions in order to preserve a maximum of organic information. The progress i...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Beilstein-Institut
2016-11-01
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| Series: | Beilstein Journal of Nanotechnology |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.3762/bjnano.7.168 |
| _version_ | 1818942908279029760 |
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| author | Patrick Philipp Lukasz Rzeznik Tom Wirtz |
| author_facet | Patrick Philipp Lukasz Rzeznik Tom Wirtz |
| author_sort | Patrick Philipp |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The analysis of polymers by secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) has been a topic of interest for many years. In recent years, the primary ion species evolved from heavy monatomic ions to cluster and massive cluster primary ions in order to preserve a maximum of organic information. The progress in less-damaging sputtering goes along with a loss in lateral resolution for 2D and 3D imaging. By contrast the development of a mass spectrometer as an add-on tool for the helium ion microscope (HIM), which uses finely focussed He+ or Ne+ beams, allows for the analysis of secondary ions and small secondary cluster ions with unprecedented lateral resolution. Irradiation induced damage and depth profiling capabilities obtained with these light rare gas species have been far less investigated than ion species used classically in SIMS. In this paper we simulated the sputtering of multi-layered polymer samples using the BCA (binary collision approximation) code SD_TRIM_SP to study preferential sputtering and atomic mixing in such samples up to a fluence of 1018 ions/cm2. Results show that helium primary ions are completely inappropriate for depth profiling applications with this kind of sample materials while results for neon are similar to argon. The latter is commonly used as primary ion species in SIMS. For the two heavier species, layers separated by 10 nm can be distinguished for impact energies of a few keV. These results are encouraging for 3D imaging applications where lateral and depth information are of importance. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-20T07:18:54Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-075a8546536f42f4b3a62cab50aad0ea |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2190-4286 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-20T07:18:54Z |
| publishDate | 2016-11-01 |
| publisher | Beilstein-Institut |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Beilstein Journal of Nanotechnology |
| spelling | doaj.art-075a8546536f42f4b3a62cab50aad0ea2022-12-21T19:48:43ZengBeilstein-InstitutBeilstein Journal of Nanotechnology2190-42862016-11-01711749176010.3762/bjnano.7.1682190-4286-7-168Numerical investigation of depth profiling capabilities of helium and neon ions in ion microscopyPatrick Philipp0Lukasz Rzeznik1Tom Wirtz2Advanced Instrumentation for Ion Nano-Analytics (AINA), MRT Department, Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST), 41 rue du Brill, L-4422 Belvaux, LuxembourgAdvanced Instrumentation for Ion Nano-Analytics (AINA), MRT Department, Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST), 41 rue du Brill, L-4422 Belvaux, LuxembourgAdvanced Instrumentation for Ion Nano-Analytics (AINA), MRT Department, Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST), 41 rue du Brill, L-4422 Belvaux, LuxembourgThe analysis of polymers by secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) has been a topic of interest for many years. In recent years, the primary ion species evolved from heavy monatomic ions to cluster and massive cluster primary ions in order to preserve a maximum of organic information. The progress in less-damaging sputtering goes along with a loss in lateral resolution for 2D and 3D imaging. By contrast the development of a mass spectrometer as an add-on tool for the helium ion microscope (HIM), which uses finely focussed He+ or Ne+ beams, allows for the analysis of secondary ions and small secondary cluster ions with unprecedented lateral resolution. Irradiation induced damage and depth profiling capabilities obtained with these light rare gas species have been far less investigated than ion species used classically in SIMS. In this paper we simulated the sputtering of multi-layered polymer samples using the BCA (binary collision approximation) code SD_TRIM_SP to study preferential sputtering and atomic mixing in such samples up to a fluence of 1018 ions/cm2. Results show that helium primary ions are completely inappropriate for depth profiling applications with this kind of sample materials while results for neon are similar to argon. The latter is commonly used as primary ion species in SIMS. For the two heavier species, layers separated by 10 nm can be distinguished for impact energies of a few keV. These results are encouraging for 3D imaging applications where lateral and depth information are of importance.https://doi.org/10.3762/bjnano.7.168atomic mixingdepth profilinghelium ion microscopyion bombardmentnumerical simulationspolymersSDTRIMSP |
| spellingShingle | Patrick Philipp Lukasz Rzeznik Tom Wirtz Numerical investigation of depth profiling capabilities of helium and neon ions in ion microscopy Beilstein Journal of Nanotechnology atomic mixing depth profiling helium ion microscopy ion bombardment numerical simulations polymers SDTRIMSP |
| title | Numerical investigation of depth profiling capabilities of helium and neon ions in ion microscopy |
| title_full | Numerical investigation of depth profiling capabilities of helium and neon ions in ion microscopy |
| title_fullStr | Numerical investigation of depth profiling capabilities of helium and neon ions in ion microscopy |
| title_full_unstemmed | Numerical investigation of depth profiling capabilities of helium and neon ions in ion microscopy |
| title_short | Numerical investigation of depth profiling capabilities of helium and neon ions in ion microscopy |
| title_sort | numerical investigation of depth profiling capabilities of helium and neon ions in ion microscopy |
| topic | atomic mixing depth profiling helium ion microscopy ion bombardment numerical simulations polymers SDTRIMSP |
| url | https://doi.org/10.3762/bjnano.7.168 |
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