Working with Other Ion beams

Abstract

A feature of the GFIS ion source is that every aspect of its operation and behavior—from its imaging resolution, the energy range over which it operates, the efficiency of signal production, and the damage it does to the materials that it examines—is ultimately affected by the choice of imaging gas. Ideally, the same source could rapidly be reconfigured to select and generate any one of a number of different ion beams. Because each type of ion has its own strengths and weaknesses, this feature would add substantially to the utility of the ion microscope.