MeV-SIMS yield measurements using a Si-PIN diode as a primary ion current counter

Megaelectronvolt-Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (MeV-SIMS) is an emerging Ion Beam Analysis technique for molecular speciation and submicron imaging. Various setups have been constructed in the recent years. Still a systematic investigation on the dependence of MeV-SIMS yields on different ion beam parameters is missing. A reliable measurement method of the beam current down to the attoampere range is needed for this investigation. Therefore, a new detector has been added to the MeV-SIMS setup at the Ruđer Bošković Institute (RBI), which measures the current directly using a Si PIN-diode. In this work, we present the constructed system, its characteristics, and results of the first yield measurements. These measurements have already identified important factors that have to be considered while constructing a MeV SIMS setup.