High Sensitivity - High Resolution Elemental Analysis by Parallel Ion and Electron Spectrometry - PIES

Institution CRP Gabriel Lippmann
Partenaire(s) : CRP-Santé , Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule Aachen (D) , FEI (NL)
Du : 01/01/2010
Au : 30/06/2012
Budget : 486 000,00€
Contact(s) : Migeon Henri-Noël , Wirtz Tom

Summary

The aim of the parallel ion/electron spectrometry (PIES) project is to produce a novel research instrument combining transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS). The in-situ combination of these two techniques will provide numerous advantages over existing instrumentation. Structural information at the 1 nm level gained from TEM will be used to localise elemental information obtained from SIMS. The result will be elemental maps with lateral resolution of 10 nm with information localisable to 1 nm.

The combination of information obtained by electron energy loss spectrometry (EELS) and conventional SIMS data will be used to eliminate the matrix effect which traditionally makes SIMS data difficult to quantify. This will overcome both the poor detection limit of EELS and quantification issues with SIMS to provide chemical information with ppm level sensitivity. The sputtering property of SIMS will allow novel combined 3D elemental and structural maps to be produced.

The PIES instrument will comprise an FEI Tecnai TEM with a heavily modified octagon to allow enough space for the primary ion column and secondary extraction optics. A Ga+ FIB with modified final lens will be used as the primary ion column. A Cameca IMS-4f spectrometer with customised extraction and transfer optics will be used for the mass spectrometer.