Premium
Probing chemical homogeneity within single cluster impact sites
Author(s) -
Pinnick Veronica,
Verkhoturov Stanislav V.,
Kaledin Leonid,
Schweikert Emile A.
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
surface and interface analysis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.52
H-Index - 90
eISSN - 1096-9918
pISSN - 0142-2421
DOI - 10.1002/sia.3395
Subject(s) - ion , mass spectrum , projectile , nanoprobe , secondary ion mass spectrometry , chemistry , analytical chemistry (journal) , mass spectrometry , chemical composition , homogeneity (statistics) , secondary electrons , nanotechnology , chemical physics , materials science , electron , nanoparticle , environmental chemistry , physics , chromatography , organic chemistry , quantum mechanics , statistics , mathematics , metallurgy
We have recently reported a nanoprobe technique based on time‐of‐flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF‐SIMS) capable of obtaining molecular information from individual nanoobjects. The technique is based on event‐by‐event bombardment/detection, where information from individual objects is obtained via coincidental secondary ion emission from single projectile impacts. Here, we demonstrate that the event‐by‐event mode is sensitive to the chemical and/or physical separation of molecular species. As a test case, two nanoobject samples with the same chemical composition were prepared with different morphologies. Both consisted of polystyrene spheres deposited onto nanoalumina whiskers, but their structures differed. One sample contained 30 nm spheres intact, and the other produced nanoflake structures. Bombardment with Au 400 4+ at 136 keV total impact energy demonstrates that conventional mass spectra do not reflect differences between the morphologies, whereas the coincidental mass spectra show significant differences in coemission of aluminum‐based and carbon‐based secondary ions. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.