SBIR Phase I: High Brightness C60+ Ion Source for 2D and 3D Chemical Analysis in Nanobiology

这个小企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目将开发一种高亮度的C60离子源，可用于TOF SIMS仪器，用于纳米生物学应用中的二维和三维化学分析和图像映射。像C60+这样的高能簇离子在撞击样品时产生大分子二次离子，从而减少了深度分析的后续表面损伤。然而，由最先进的电子冲击源产生的C60+离子受到低光束电流和相对宽的离子束的影响，导致有限的空间分辨率和吞吐量。提出的电感耦合等离子体（ICP）源将提供10倍的亮度增加和50%的能量传播减少。由此产生的具有更高探针电流密度的C60离子束将大大提高空间分辨率，并允许以更高的分析速度分析更大体积的材料。这对于在不需要标记的情况下表征细胞成分内分子的空间分布是非常有用的。分析和确定细胞过程机制的能力可能对健康和疾病控制产生深远的影响。该项目更广泛的影响/商业潜力是，改进的C60离子源将使众多研究人员、教师、学生和工业用户能够以比当前最先进的分辨率和速度，在细胞和纳米生物结构中特异性地和空间地识别分子物种。对细胞功能进行更精确的3D绘图和成像，可以发现新的细胞机制，通过改善健康和疾病控制来影响社会。改进后的源将允许C60独特的溅射特性应用于FIB应用，在现有FIB技术受光束充电或材料问题限制的领域。这些领域包括半导体封装、聚合物科学、纤维科学和纸张科学。描述中提出的这种新源的改进可以立即取代目前商用SIMS仪器中使用的最先进的C60+离子源，通过直接向SIMS供应商供应源，允许成功的技术转移到市场。此外，还可以对当前已安装的SIMS仪器进行升级，为现有的C60+源用户提供改进的性能优势。这种源也将用于商业双光束显微镜用于横截面计量。

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will develop a high brightness C60 ion source that can be used in TOF SIMS instruments for 2D and 3D chemical analysis and image mapping in nanobiology applications. Energetic cluster ions such as C60+ yield large molecular secondary ion species when impacting a sample, reducing subsequent surface damage for depth profiling. However, C60+ ions produced from state-of-the-art electron impact sources suffer from low beam current and relatively broad ion beams resulting in limited spatial resolution and throughput. The proposed inductively coupled plasma (ICP) source would provide a 10x increase in brightness and a 50% reduction in energy spread. The resulting C60 ion beams with higher probe current density would vastly improve spatial resolution, and allow for larger volumes of material to be analyzed at increased analysis speed. This would be extremely useful for characterizing the spatial distribution of molecules within cell components without the need for labeling. The ability to analyze and determine cell process mechanisms could have far reaching implications in health and disease control. The broader impact/commercial potential of this project is the improved C60 ion source would enable numerous researchers, faculty, students, and industrial users, to site specifically and spatially identify molecular species within cell and nanobiology structures at superior resolution and speed compared to the current state-of-the-art. More accurate mapping and imaging of cell functions in 3D could give rise to the discovery of new cell mechanisms, impacting society through improved health and disease control. The improved source would allow the unique sputtering properties of C60 to be applied to FIB applications in fields where existing FIB technology is limited by beam charging or material issues. These fields include semiconductor packaging, polymer science, fiber science, and paper science. The improvements proposed in the description of this new source could immediately supplant the current state-of-the-art C60+ ion sources used in commercial SIMS instruments, allowing for successful technology transfer to the marketplace through a direct supply of sources to SIMS vendors. In addition, upgrades to the current installed base of SIMS instruments would be possible, providing existing C60+ source users with the improved performance benefits. This source would also be utilized on commercial dual-beam microscopes used for cross-sectional metrology.