MRI: Acquisition of a Time-of-Fight Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometer

非技术描述：该主要研究仪器奖为购买最先进的飞行时间二次离子质谱（ToF-SIMS）仪器提供支持。这是了解化学、材料科学、环境科学、化学工程、保护科学和物理学等学科的表面组成和反应性所需的关键技术。ToF-SIMS方法是一种非常敏感的表面分析技术，它使用脉冲离子束去除样品的最外层。从这些原子单层（次级离子）中移除的物质被加速，它们的质量（或者更准确地说是质量电荷比）由它们到达探测器的确切时间（因此是飞行时间）决定。从更广泛的意义上说，这台仪器的获得支持了特拉华大学不同学院、特拉华州工业公司和温特图尔博物馆之间的合作努力。该仪器用于研究生和高级本科生研究，研究生课程，艺术保护计划，以及特拉华大学本科生项目的几个研究经验的学生，包括专门为残疾学生设计的研究经验。技术描述：总的来说，ToF-SIMS有三种工作模式：表面光谱分辨率优于0.0001 μ，能够进行分子鉴定和百万分之一范围内的同位素含量；空间分辨率优于100nm，比人类头发直径小3000x的表面成像；深度剖面——当与第二个烧蚀光束（通常是氧离子和铯离子）结合时，可以实现小于1纳米的垂直分辨率。获得的仪器满足所有这些标准。这些能力直接影响了特拉华大学当前和未来的大量研究方向。研究领域包括原子精密沉积和蚀刻、纳米技术和纳米材料、高效太阳能电池设计、异质、热和电催化、文化遗产调查、微塑料和生物医学界面研究以及许多其他方面的努力。ToF-SIMS提供了一种强大的方法，具有原子精度，表面灵敏度，高深度分辨率和成像能力，以回答关键问题并确定进一步的研究和发现方向。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Non-Technical Description:This Major Research Instrumentation award provides support for the acquisition of a state-of-the-art instrument for time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS). This is a critical technique needed to understand surface composition and reactivity across chemistry, materials science, environmental science, chemical engineering, conservation science, and physics. The ToF-SIMS method is an extremely sensitive surface analytical technique that uses a pulsed ion beam to remove the outmost monolayers of the sample. The species that are removed from these atomic monolayers (secondary ions) are accelerated and their masses (or more precisely mass-to-charge ratios) are determined by the exact time at which they reach the detector (hence time-of-flight). In a broader sense, the acquisition of this instrument supports collaboration efforts among the different colleges at the University of Delaware, industrial companies in the state of Delaware, and the Winterthur Museum. The instrument is used by students in graduate and advanced undergraduate research, graduate courses, the Art Conservation Program, and students in several research experience for undergraduate programs at the University of Delaware, including research experience specifically designed for students with disabilities.Technical Description:In general, there are three ToF-SIMS operational modes: surface spectroscopy with better than 0.0001 amu resolution that enables molecular identification and isotopic content in the parts-per-million range; surface imaging with better than 100 nm spatial resolution, ~3000x smaller than the diameter of a human hair; and depth profiling - when combined with a second ablation beam (generally, ions of oxygen and cesium) to achieve vertical resolution of less than 1 nanometer. The acquired instrument satisfies all these criteria. These capabilities directly affect a large number of current and future research directions at the University of Delaware. The research areas include atomic-precision deposition and etching, nanotechnology and nanomaterials, efficient solar-cell design, heterogeneous, thermal, and electrocatalysis, cultural heritage investigations, research in microplastics and biomedical interfaces, and many other efforts. ToF-SIMS provides a powerful method with atomic precision, surface-sensitivity, high depth resolution, and imaging capabilities to answer critical questions and to define further research and discovery directions.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.