Time-of-flight MeV-SIMS with beam induced secondary electron trigger

A new Time-of-flight MeV Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (MeV-SIMS) setup was developed to be used with a capillary microprobe for molecular imaging with heavy primary ions at MeV energies. Due to the low output current of the ion collimating capillary a Time-of-flight (ToF) measurement method with high duty cycle is necessary. Secondary electrons from the sample surface and transmitted ions were studied as start signals. They enable measurements with a continuous primary beam and unpulsed ToF spectrometer. Tests with various primary ion beams and sample types have shown that a secondary electron signal is obtained from 30% to 40% of incident MeV particles. This provides a ToF start signal with considerably better time resolution than the one obtained from transmitted primary ions detected in a radiation hard gas ionization detector. Beam induced secondary electrons therefore allow for MeV-SIMS measurements with reasonable mass resolution at primary ion beam currents in the low fA range.