TOF-SIMS with highest lateral resolution by pulsing the Ne-GFIS in a HIM

The helium ion microscope (HIM), well known for its high-resolution imaging and nanofabrication performance, suffered from the lack of a well integrated analytic method that can enrich the highly detailed morphological images with materials contrast. Recently, a magnetic sector and a time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometer (TOF-SIMS) have been developed that can be retrofitted to existing microscopes [1,2].
We report on our time-of-flight setup using a straight secondary ion extraction optics that has been designed and optimized for highest transmission. The high efficiency is the most crucial parameter to collect enough signal from nanoparticles prior to their complete removal by ion sputtering. As a major advantage the time-of-flight approach inherently can measure all masses in parallel and thus provides the complete picture of the sample composition. The TOF-SIMS is a versatile add-on that helps the user to get previously unknown details about his samples and is therefore beneficial for many applications. At the end we will also give an outlook on future developments.

[1] Klingner, N.; Heller, R.; Hlawacek, G.; von Borany, J.; Notte, J. A.; Huang, J. and
Facsko, S. (2016). Nanometer scale elemental analysis in the helium ion microscope using time of flight spectrometry, Ultramicroscopy 162 : 91-97.
[2] Klingner, N.; Heller, R.; Hlawacek, G.; Facsko, S. and von Borany, J.; (2018). Time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry in the helium ion microscope, submitted.