Acquisition of a Time of Flight Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometer

University Of Illinois At Urbana-Champaign, Urbana IL

Investigators

Abstract

This award from the Major Research Instrumentation program supports the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign with the purchase of a time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometer (TOF-SIMS). The TOF-SIMS system will be capable of ultra-sensitive surface and in-depth analysis at high mass resolution, high lateral resolution and high molecular weight detection. The instrument will be equipped with a UHV sample preparation chamber to perform in-situ experiments of film growth and surface treatments. The proposed instrument will be equipped with a cold stage to meet the needs of users in the expanding research area of biomaterials. The TOF-SIMS will be located in the Center for Microanalysis of Materials (CMM) which is part of the Frederick Seitz Materials Research Laboratory (FSMRL) located on the Urbana-Champaign campus of the University of Illinois. The FSMRL is an interdisciplinary research unit that has been very successful in enabling cross-disciplinary research and collaboration involving about 130 faculty research groups distributed among seven academic departments. The TOF-SIMS is critical to many research programs active at the University of Illinois such as: (1) Nanobiology Assays; (2) Molecular Engineering; (3) Growth of Individual Neurons in a Living, Cultured Neural Network; (4) Silicon Nanotransitors; (5) quantum wire structures; (6) Nanoscale Quantum Dot Heterostructures; (7) Alternative Gate Dielectrics; (8) p-doping of GaN-based Nitride Semiconductors with Mg; Failure mechanisms in transition-metal (TM) nitride diffusion barriers and corrosion-resistant layers; (9) Microchemistry of large area solar cell materials. In addition to the above programs, the new instrument will see widespread use in many other graduate research and education programs. It is estimated that annually 50-75 researchers will directly utilize the TOF-SIMS in their programs. This award from the Major Research Instrumentation program supports the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign with the purchase of a time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometer (TOF-SIMS). The TOF-SIMS system will be capable of ultra-sensitive surface and in-depth analysis at high mass resolution, high lateral resolution and high molecular weight detection. The instrument will be equipped with an ultra high vacuum sample preparation chamber to perform in-situ experiments of film growth and surface treatments. The instrument will be equipped with a cold stage to meet the needs of users in the expanding research area of biomaterials. The TOF-SIMS will be located in the Center for Microanalysis of Materials (CMM) which is part of the Frederick Seitz Materials Research Laboratory (FSMRL) located on the Urbana-Champaign campus of the University of Illinois. The FSMRL is an interdisciplinary research unit that has been very successful in enabling cross-disciplinary research and collaboration involving about 130 faculty research groups distributed among seven academic departments. In addition, the new instrument will see widespread use in many other graduate research and education programs. It is estimated that annually 50-75 researchers will directly utilize the TOF-SIMS.