New Developments in ToF-SIMS Surface Mass Spectrometry with ATR-IR Spectroscopy

提出了一项提高飞行时间二次离子质谱分析技术能力的研究方案。它通过用中等能量粒子轰击表面，通过移除和分析分子和原子碎片来分析材料的表面化学。这项研究将朝着两个方向进行。首先，我们将利用我们的激动人心的进步，使用Bucky-ball(C60)和金属团束来轰炸表面。这些团簇光束相当温和地去除分子(确保它们在去除过程中受到的损害比原子束轰击下小得多)，但数量很大，提高了灵敏度和分析效率。我们的研究将试图了解这些光束是如何从表面移除分子的，这样我们就可以根据要分析的样本来定制它们的使用。这项基础研究将通过与英国一家小型高科技公司Ionoptika Ltd合作开发一些大胆的仪器来加强。首先，将开发一种全新的仪器，它独特地结合了TOF-SIMS和互补的红外光谱ATR-IR技术。将这两种技术结合在一起，首次可以同时研究复杂生物、有机和无机材料的表面化学和亚表面化学。这一点很重要，因为材料的表面化学与其亚表面或整体化学之间有很强的联系。其次，我们将把串联质谱仪整合到我们的TOF-SIMS中。这种设备能够使在许多材料中发现的大的复杂分子被选择并分解成更小的、易于分析的片段，从而允许对这些分子进行准确的分析。最后，我们将开发产生团簇离子束的新方法，提高束流的聚焦能力，使其能够在高空间分辨率下进行分析，从而使生物组织、细胞、催化剂等非均质材料的空间化学具有高灵敏度的特征。

A programme of a research is proposed to advance the capability of the technique - Time of Flight Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry - ToF-SIMS. which, by bombarding the surface with moderate energy particles, analyses the surface chemistry of materials by removing and analysing molecular and atomic fragments. The research will take two directions. First we will capitalise on our exciting advances using bucky-ball (C60) and metal cluster beams to bombard the surface. These cluster beams remove molecules rather gently (ensuring that they are much less damaged in the removal process than under atomic beam bombardment), but in large quantities, enhancing sensitivity and analytical efficiency. Our research will seek to understand how these beams remove molecules from the surface, so that we can tailor their use to the samples to be analysed. This fundamental research will be augmented by some adventurous instrumental developments in collaboration with a small high technology UK company - Ionoptika Ltd. First, a totally new instrument uniquely combining ToF-SIMS and the complementary infra-red spectroscopy ATR-IR technique will be developed. Combining these two techniques in this new instrument will enable for the first time the surface chemistry and the sub-surface chemistry of complex biological, organic and inorganic materials to be studied at the same time. This is important because of the strong link between the surface chemistry of materials and their sub-surface or bulk chemistry. Second, we will incorporate tandem mass spectrometry into our ToF-SIMS. This facility enables the large complex molecules found in many materials to be selected and broken into smaller easily analysed fragments permiting accurate analysis of these molecules. Finally we will develop new ways of producing cluster ion beams that improves the focussing capability of the beams to enable analysis at high spatial resolution, so that the spatial chemistry of heterogeneous materials, eg biological tissue, cells, catlaysts etc can be characterised with high sensitivity.