Hydrogen Ion Bombardment in Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry

Secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) has been successfully used for fundamental and applied studies of solid surfaces. Thus it is important to know regularities in the secondary ion emission (SIE) induced by the primary beams of inert or chemically active elements [1]. The SIE intensity was found to depend not only on the surface sputtering processes (the intensity rises with the atomic number of the bombarding ion) but also on the ionization efficiency of the sputtered atoms (the efficiency is strongly dependent on the physico-chemical state of target surface and experimental conditions). Analytical capabilities of SIMS might be improved by the use of light ions producing low sputtering and causing minimum surface erosion.