ToF-SIMS or analysing the surface of a sample in detail

As part of its activities in the area of materials, the Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST) organized the “8th Meeting of French-speaking ToF-SIMS ION TOF users” on 15-16 March 2018. The event was organized in partnership with the Société Française de Spectrométrie de Masse (SFSM) and the Société Française du Vide (SFV) at the Belval Innovation Campus.

This seminar, which has taken place every year since 2011, brought together more than 30 European participants eager to discuss the Time of Flight Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry technique (ToF-SIMS) as part of their research and development activities.

What is TOF-SIMS?

ToF-SIMS is an analytical technique enabling molecular and elemental information to be collected from the chemical composition of the the surface of a sample. The principle consists of accelerating primary ions towards the surface to be analysed using a pulsed beam in order to produce secondary ions from the surface of the sample, which can then be analysed by a Time-Of-Flight mass spectrometer in an ultra-high vacuum chamber (very low interstellar vacuum-type residual pressure).

8th Users meeting

During this important event, led by Gilles FRACHE, the LIST researcher responsible for molecular analysis activities, and Anouk GALTAYRIES, lecturer and researcher at the Institut de Recherche de Chimie ParisTech (ENSCP) in Paris, the participants were able to attend numerous high-level presentations, in particular those given by the invited speakers, Ian GILMORE, NPL (UK): “the 3D orbiSIMS: A new world of high resolution with spatial resolution” and Alain BRUNELLE, CNRS (FR): “de la biologie au patrimoine avec l’imagerie ToF-SIMS”; and discuss the multiple uses possible by the ToF-SIMS technique, for example:

• Isotopic analysis using ToF-SIMS to identify the origin of metallic sulphur corrosion,
• The study of structure performance, ageing and defects in hybrid photonic devices via ToF-SIMS profiling.
• ToF-SIMS analyses for 3D micro and optoelectronic structures.

Spotlight on the LIST molecular analysis laboratory

Participants also had the opportunity to visit the LIST premises in Belvaux and to discover its molecular analysis laboratory in which ToF-SIMS technology is used. With the ability to address subjects related to the detection and localization of small (bio) molecules, resins, or even high molecular weight polymers, the molecular analysis laboratory offers analytical developments in a very wide range of applications. In particular, these include defect analyses, production/synthesis process monitoring, as well as biological tissue imaging. Click here for more information on LIST equipment.

The meeting finished with the presentation of two projects for events related to SIMS: the 9th and 10th meetings of ToF-SIMS users, which will highlight the young PhD students from the first meetings who have since become young researchers employed all over the world, and the French application for the SIMS-24 international conference, which will take place in 2023.

>> For more information on LIST’s activities in the area of ToF-SIMS and molecular characterizations in MRT, please contact gilles.frache@list.lu and for more information on the next ToF-SIMS ION TOF user meetings, please contact anouk.galtayries@chimieparistech.psl.eu.

For more information on the meeting’s partners, please consult their pages here: the ION TOF company, SFV, member society of the IUVSTA, SFSM, member society of the IMSS.

Photos of the event :