New Developments in ToF-SIMS Surface Mass Spectrometry with ATR-IR Spectroscopy

A programme of a research is proposed to advance the capability of the technique - Time of Flight Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry - ToF-SIMS. which, by bombarding the surface with moderate energy particles, analyses the surface chemistry of materials by removing and analysing molecular and atomic fragments. The research will take two directions. First we will capitalise on our exciting advances using bucky-ball (C60) and metal cluster beams to bombard the surface. These cluster beams remove molecules rather gently (ensuring that they are much less damaged in the removal process than under atomic beam bombardment), but in large quantities, enhancing sensitivity and analytical efficiency. Our research will seek to understand how these beams remove molecules from the surface, so that we can tailor their use to the samples to be analysed. This fundamental research will be augmented by some adventurous instrumental developments in collaboration with a small high technology UK company - Ionoptika Ltd. First, a totally new instrument uniquely combining ToF-SIMS and the complementary infra-red spectroscopy ATR-IR technique will be developed. Combining these two techniques in this new instrument will enable for the first time the surface chemistry and the sub-surface chemistry of complex biological, organic and inorganic materials to be studied at the same time. This is important because of the strong link between the surface chemistry of materials and their sub-surface or bulk chemistry. Second, we will incorporate tandem mass spectrometry into our ToF-SIMS. This facility enables the large complex molecules found in many materials to be selected and broken into smaller easily analysed fragments permiting accurate analysis of these molecules. Finally we will develop new ways of producing cluster ion beams that improves the focussing capability of the beams to enable analysis at high spatial resolution, so that the spatial chemistry of heterogeneous materials, eg biological tissue, cells, catlaysts etc can be characterised with high sensitivity.