Metal oxide collectors for storing matter technique applied in secondary ion mass spectrometry

We present results of the use of metal and metal oxide substrates that serve as collectors in ‘storing matter’, the quantitative technique of secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS). This technique allows separating the two base processes of secondary ion formation in SIMS. Namely, the process of ion sputtering is separated from the process of ionisation. The technique allows sputtering of the analysed sample and storing the sputtered material, with sub-monolayer coverage, onto a collector surface. Such deposits can be then analysed by SIMS, and as a result, the so called ‘matrix effects’ are significantly reduced. We perform deposition of the sputtered material onto Ti and Cu substrates and also onto metal oxide substrates as molybdenum, titanium, tin and indium oxides. The process of sputtering is carried within the same vacuum chamber where the SIMS analysis of the collected material is performed. For sputtering and SIMS analysis of the deposited material we use 5 keV Ar+ beam of 500 nA. The presented results are obtained with the use of stationary collectors. Here we present a case study of chromium. The obtained results show that the molybdenum and titanium oxide substrates used as collectors increase useful yield by two orders, with respect to such pure elemental collectors as Cu and Ti. Here we define useful yield as a ratio of the number of detected secondary ions during SIMS analysis and the number of atoms sputtered during the deposition process.