Development of a Super-SIMS for geological applications


Development of a Super-SIMS for geological applications

Ziegenrücker, R.; Akhmadaliev, S.; Belokonov, G.; von Borany, J.; Böttger, R.; Gutzmer, J.; Kaever, P.; Meyer, M.; Noga, P.; Renno, A. D.; Rugel, G.; Scharf, A.; Tiessen, C. J.; Voigtländer, J.; Wagner, N.; Wiedenbeck, M.; Winter, A.; Wu, H. S.

The DREAMS (DREsden Accelerator Mass Spectrometry) facility [1, 2] has been proven to be very suitable for a number of applications. We are broadening our application scope by the implementation of a so-called Super-SIMS (SIMS = Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry) device [3]. Our system combines the spatial resolution capability of a SIMS (CAMECA IMS 7f-Auto) with the pre-existing DREAMS’s capacity to remove isobaric molecular signatures in the ion beam. An improvement down to ultra-trace element concentrations of 1 µg/g to 100 ng/g is expected, i.e. an order of magnitude better than traditional dynamic SIMS (see e.g. [4, 5]).
To match the acceptance conditions of our 6 MV Tandetron accelerator for all masses from 1 to 300 amu, the SIMS device (providing an ion beam with 5 to 10 keV energy) can be raised to a potential of up to -30 kV. The connection between the SIMS device and the accelerator has been realized with a transition lens, which focusses the ion beam to the accelerator entrance. SIMS-extracted ion beams have already been successfully measured on the high-energy accelerator side detector.
First measurements were done with two matrices: a P-doped Si-wafer and a natural galena crystal (PbS). The wafer was analysed for all naturally occurring Si isotopes (28Si, 29Si, 30Si) as well as 31P. Count rates for all of the aforementioned isotopes were measured. Galena was analysed for S isotopes (32S, 33S, 34S, 36S). We present ongoing developments, results, as well as plans to extend to other matrices and isotope systems. With more development this ultrasensitive analytical method could be best-suited for analysing geological samples within our resource technology focus.

[1] S. Akhmadaliev, et al., Nucl. Instrum. Meth. B 294, 2013, 5-10.
[2] G. Rugel, et al. Nucl. Instrum. Meth. B 370, 2016, 94-100.
[3] J. M. Anthony, D. J. Donahue, A. J. T. Jull, Mat. Res. Soc. Symp. Proc. 69, 1986, 311-316.
[4] C. Maden, PhD thesis, ETH Zurich, 2003.
[5] S. Matteson, Mass Spectrom. Rev. 27 (5), 2008, 470-484.

Keywords: SIMS; Super-SIMS; Trace element AMS; galena

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