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Precise and fast secondary ion mass spectrometry depth profiling of polymer materials with large Ar cluster ion beams
Author(s) -
Ninomiya Satoshi,
Ichiki Kazuya,
Yamada Hideaki,
Nakata Yoshihiko,
Seki Toshio,
Aoki Takaaki,
Matsuo Jiro
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
rapid communications in mass spectrometry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.528
H-Index - 136
eISSN - 1097-0231
pISSN - 0951-4198
DOI - 10.1002/rcm.4046
Subject(s) - ion , sputtering , chemistry , secondary ion mass spectrometry , static secondary ion mass spectrometry , fluence , mass spectrometry , irradiation , analytical chemistry (journal) , cluster (spacecraft) , time of flight , polyatomic ion , ion beam , argon , ion source , atomic physics , materials science , thin film , nanotechnology , nuclear physics , chromatography , physics , organic chemistry , computer science , programming language
We demonstrate depth profiling of polymer materials by using large argon (Ar) cluster ion beams. In general, depth profiling with secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) presents serious problems in organic materials, because the primary keV atomic ion beams often damage them and the molecular ion yields decrease with increasing incident ion fluence. Recently, we have found reduced damage of organic materials during sputtering with large gas cluster ions, and reported on the unique secondary ion emission of organic materials. Secondary ions from the polymer films were measured with a linear type time‐of‐flight (TOF) technique; the films were also etched with large Ar cluster ion beams. The mean cluster size of the primary ion beams was Ar 700 and incident energy was 5.5 keV. Although the primary ion fluence exceeded the static SIMS limit, the molecular ion intensities from the polymer films remained constant, indicating that irradiation with large Ar cluster ion beams rarely leads to damage accumulation on the surface of the films, and this characteristic is excellently suitable for SIMS depth profiling of organic materials. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.