Improvement and evaluation of the nano-beam SIMS control system

Shave-off depth profiling with nano-beam SIMS, our own technique, achieves the highly precise depth profiling with nanometer-scale depth resolution by utilizing a Focused Ion Beam (FIB) micro-machining process to provide the depth profile. This method is to acquire depth profiling by the shave-off scanning mode. However, we could obtain the signals as a function of time because the FIB scanning system and the signal acquisition system were working independently. Therefore, we developed a new system to obtain the signals as a function of two-dimensional position of the FIB. As a result, we could divide a shave-off profile up to 256 along lateral direction. We defined these lateral areas “lanes” and named this new method “multilane shave-off profiling”.