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GGR Biennial Review: Key Advances in Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry in the Geological Sciences during the Period 2008–2009
Author(s) -
Wiedenbeck Michael
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
geostandards and geoanalytical research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.037
H-Index - 73
eISSN - 1751-908X
pISSN - 1639-4488
DOI - 10.1111/j.1751-908x.2010.00933.x
Subject(s) - microprobe , secondary ion mass spectrometry , analytical chemistry (journal) , laser ablation , mass spectrometry , trace element , chemistry , isotope , ion , environmental chemistry , mineralogy , laser , physics , chromatography , nuclear physics , optics , organic chemistry
Secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS or ion microprobe) remains one of the most powerful techniques in the analytical geochemist’s toolkit. The key strength of SIMS is its capacity to provide trace element and isotope data at sampling sizes which are not approached by other methods. As compared with the main competing technique of laser ablation‐ICP‐MS, SIMS commonly provides a total sampling mass some 10 to 500 times smaller; this feature can be the deciding factor as to whether an analytical objective is technically achievable. Additional strengths of SIMS lie in the areas of depth profiling and trace element imaging. Though perhaps not as commonly used in the geosciences, these two operational modes represent unique capabilities of SIMS.