DREAMS come true: Dresden SIMS becomes Super-SIMS

The DREAMS (DREsden AMS) facility [1,2] has been proven to be very suitable for several kinds of applications [3] based on lighter radionuclides. However, the range of applications shall be broaden by upgrading to a so-called Super-SIMS (SIMS = Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry). Super-SIMS is a combination of trace element AMS (TEAMS) for the determination of stable elements and isotopes using the spatial-resolution - greater than 3 µm (x,y) and 5 nm (z) - of SIMS. Thus, this ultrasensitive analytical method is best-suited for analysing geological samples within our focus of resource technology.
To realize the DREAMS Super-SIMS, a commercial SIMS (CAMECA IMS 7f-Auto) is used as an ion source and connected to a 6 MV accelerator of highest energy stability. Additionally, the high-energy setup of DREAMS will be equipped with a time-of-flight detector and an energy detection system. By the complete destruction of molecules detection limits some orders of magnitude better than for traditional dynamic SIMS are expected, i.e. ~ 10^-9 - 10^-12 (see e.g. [4]). A dedicated housing around the source guarantees the requirements for stable ion source operation, i.e. stability of temperature (<1°C/h) and humidity (<10%/h). For reducing vibrations the ion source is installed on a cube shaped block made of gabbro (6.4 t weight; 1.4 m x 1.8 m x 0.86 m size). The whole ion source setup can be set on a negative potential of up to -30 kV to allow for higher transmission.
[1] Akhmadaliev et al., NIMB 294 (2013) 5. [2] Rugel et al. & Pavetich et al., AMS-13. [3] Feige et al., Ludwig et al., Ott et al., Rodrigues et al., Smith et al., AMS-13. [4] Maden, PhD thesis, ETH Zurich 2003.