Tof SIMS - Time-of-Flight Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry
Tof SIMS in a nutshell
Category:
Qualitative chemical identity at the surface
Information about:
Atomic and molecular composition at the surface monolayer (<2 nm) with a spatial resolution down to 200 nm and detection limits of 10 ppm
Addition information:
Mass spectra of surface species, imaging of density plots to show surface composition and distribution, and depth profile determination. This shows the local distribution of chemical species across the substrate
Measurements on:
Tof-SIMS has a proven record in analysing and detecting the chemical composition on the surface and is applied to:
Pigments and dispersants
Solid materials: metals, ceramic, glasses or plastics
Also: Conductive and isolating substrates, powders, textiles and structured surfaces
Application fields:
The method has wide applicability in the semiconductor, polymers, paints & coatings, biomaterials, pharmaceuticals, glass, paper and metal industries.
Tof-SIMS is also a useful tool to characterise composite materials, thin films, layer structures, corrosion mechanisms and catalysts contamination.
Alternatives:
Tof-SIMS is a destructive method which degrades a surface. Using XPS as a non-destructive analytical method provides similar chemical composition information but lacks the spatial resolution of Tof-SIMS. For functional group determination surface raman and infra-red spectroscopy are methods that can provide deeper depth penetration but at a reduced spatial resolution.
Description in Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secondary_ion_mass_spectrometry
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Static_secondary-ion_mass_spectrometry
Qualitative chemical identity at the surface
Information about:
Atomic and molecular composition at the surface monolayer (<2 nm) with a spatial resolution down to 200 nm and detection limits of 10 ppm
Addition information:
Mass spectra of surface species, imaging of density plots to show surface composition and distribution, and depth profile determination. This shows the local distribution of chemical species across the substrate
Measurements on:
Tof-SIMS has a proven record in analysing and detecting the chemical composition on the surface and is applied to:
Pigments and dispersants
- Functionalised surfaces after chemical deposition
- Thin films and dopant profiles in microelectronics
- Composite materials including ceramics, paper, plastics
Solid materials: metals, ceramic, glasses or plastics
Also: Conductive and isolating substrates, powders, textiles and structured surfaces
Application fields:
The method has wide applicability in the semiconductor, polymers, paints & coatings, biomaterials, pharmaceuticals, glass, paper and metal industries.
Tof-SIMS is also a useful tool to characterise composite materials, thin films, layer structures, corrosion mechanisms and catalysts contamination.
Alternatives:
Tof-SIMS is a destructive method which degrades a surface. Using XPS as a non-destructive analytical method provides similar chemical composition information but lacks the spatial resolution of Tof-SIMS. For functional group determination surface raman and infra-red spectroscopy are methods that can provide deeper depth penetration but at a reduced spatial resolution.
Description in Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secondary_ion_mass_spectrometry
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Static_secondary-ion_mass_spectrometry

This is one of the methods that we can offer you to analyse your objects.
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