Neutral cesium deposition prior to SIMS analysis of inorganic and organic samples

The enhancement of negative secondary ions yields in SIMS by the use of electropositive primary ions is well known. In previous papers, the authors of this article have reported on the simultaneous use of primary ion bombardment coupled with neutral cesium deposition to optimize the useful yields of negative secondary ions in the steady‐state regime. For electronegative elements, total ionization was achieved while the gain for the other elements attained two orders of magnitude. In this paper, we study the enhancement of negative secondary ion yields in the pre‐equilibrium regime by depositing neutral cesium onto the sample surface prior to the SIMS analysis. The main areas of application of this technique lie in the field of secondary ion imaging of sample surfaces. Of particular interest is the analysis of organic and biological samples on the Cameca NanoSIMS50 instrument. Both inorganic and organic samples will be investigated in this paper. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.