Development of Instrumentation for Combined Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry, Cathodoluminescence Spectroscopy, and Chemical Processing

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0079438BrillsonThe combined secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS), cathodoluminescence spectroscopy (CLS), and high temperature/pressure processing (HTP) instrumentation will provide coupled chemical and electronic analysis of solid state materials. It will operate at the state-of-the-art in detection of trace elements and their influence on electronic properties in solids. It will enable: (1) topographical mapping and chemical identification of elements in one step with spatial resolution of 100 nanometers and detectability of less than 10-100 parts per billion, (2) chemical analysis as a function of depth below a material's surface to detect buried layers, impurities, and products of chemical reactions with a detectability of less than 10 parts per billion, (3) cathodoluminescence mapping and electronic identification of localized states and band structure of the same volume of material with spatial resolution of 20 nanometers and detectability of less than 10 parts per billion, (4) fabrication and analysis of advanced microelectronic, optoelectronic, and electrochemical materials structures by controlled heating and surface chemical reactions under ultrahigh vacuum conditions. The instrument will be used to train students to perform fundamental and interdisciplinary research in areas as diverse as electronic materials, ceramic sensors, metal corrosion, carbon-based electrochemistry, and light emitting organic materials.%%%The electronic, chemical, and mechanical performance of many solid materials can depend sensitively on the presence of particular atoms on or near their surfaces. For example, even trace amounts of such atoms can dramatically change how a computer's semiconductor transistors switch, how a car's ceramic sensors detect gases, how resistant an aircraft's turbine blades are to corrosion, or even how efficiently a plastic film can emit light. The SIMS-CLS-CP instrument will be able to detect and identify all the atoms present in solid materials, even if a particular element's concentration amounts to only 10 atoms out of a billion. To accomplish this, the instrument bombards the material with charged atoms to eject and analyze other atoms from the target solid. The instrument will provide three-dimensional maps of each element present and its concentration. A beam of electrons will bombard the same target area to produce maps of light whose wavelengths reveal electronic properties, especially how well the solid carries electricity and transforms one form of energy into another. The feature size of these overlapping chemical and electronic maps is less than a few hundred atoms square. The instrument will shuttle materials between analysis and processing stations for heating materials in different gases, producing chemical reactions, and measuring the new physical properties that result. Besides research, the instrument will also serve to train students in materials science and technology.