Correction of secondary ion intensity by a new total ion monitoring method

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Abstract
A new total ion monitoring (TIM) method is developed for the correction of secondary ion intensity changes. These changes depend on the primary ion beam current fluctuations, surface topography, and surface state of the specimens to be analyzed. The total ions detection sensitivity of this new TIM is 103 times better than that of the conventional method using the absorbed primary current. It is possible to obtain the true concentration image of a specific element for the specimen surface by dividing the specific ions (mass analyzed) by the total emitted ions (without mass analysis) at a certain solid angle. This process eliminates the influence of primary ion beam current fluctuations, surface topography, and surface state. In this paper, the new TIM method is described. In addition, its applications to low alloy steel fracture surfaces, a color television shadow mask, and Quenched and Tempered steel fracture surfaces are investigated. The obtained results indicate good agreement with the true concentration.