MODERN ANALYTICAL USAGE OF SECONDARY ION MASS SPECTROMETRY.

The SIMS technique has long been an anomaly-- a technique with far greater range of sensitivity and elemental coverage than any other surface analytical technique, yet shunned because of problems of quantification. As the sputtering and ionization processes become better understood, the flow of elegant applications of the technique is increasing. Ion-implanted standards, which SIMS uniquely can utilize, are encapsulated samples, i. e. , the standard is a subsurface feature, and used without concern for surface 'artifacts. ' Major problems of SIMS techniques, instrumentation and analytical applications are discussed.