Compositional analysis in the HIM


Compositional analysis in the HIM

Klingner, N.; Heller, R.; Hlawacek, G.; von Borany, J.; Serralta, E.; Facsko, S.

The helium ion microscope is well known for its imaging with spot sizes below 0.5 nm, its nano-fabrication capabilities, the small energy spread of less than 1 eV and the extremely high brightness. This is not only possible for conducting but also insulating samples without the need for a conductive coating.
This relatively new device still suffers from the lack of a well integrated material analysis. Past and ongoing activities of various labs for in situ analysis will be summarized. Recently we implemented time-of-flight spectrometry to measure the energy of backscattered helium, the mass of sputtered ions and in future the energy loss of transmitted particles [1].
The focus will be on the technical realization of the significantly improved time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry setup. New results, drawbacks and derive conclusions for the practical use of this promising technique will be presented [2]. Similarities and differences to the also recently developed system using a magnetic sector will be shown [3].
For m/q ≤ 80 u a mass resolution delta m ≤ 0.3 u has been achieved. This is sufficient for many life science applications that rely on the isotope identification of light elements (e.g.: C14, N15). The lateral resolution of 8 nm has been evaluated using the knife edge method and represents a world record for spatially resolved secondary ion mass spectrometry.
[1] N. Klingner, R. Heller, G. Hlawacek, J. von Borany, J.A. Notte, J. Huang, S. Facsko. Ultramicroscopy 162 (2016), pp 91-97
[2] N. Klingner, R. Heller, G. Hlawacek, et al. (2018), in preparation
[3] D. Dowsett, T. Wirtz. Analytical Chemistry, 2017, 89 (17), pp 8957–8965

Related publications

  • Poster
    Ionenstrahlworkshop 2018, 24.04.2018, Darmstadt, Germany

Permalink: https://www.hzdr.de/publications/Publ-27372
Publ.-Id: 27372