MeV SIMS Project Boost

Thursday 23 June 2011

The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) has awarded the Surrey Ion Beam Centre with a grant aimed at “Promoting Cross-Disciplinary Research: Engineering and Physical Sciences and Economic and Social Sciences” for their continued work in developing Ambient Pressure Mass Spectrometry at the Sub Micron Scale (here is a link to EPSRC’s website). Research into MeV SIMS as an Ion Beam Analysis technique began at the Surrey Ion Beam Centre within work package 7 in the European funded SPIRIT project, and the technique has already yielded many impressive results, including the first simultaneous SIMS, PIXE, and RBS measurement performed on an organic sample.

This technique will provided researchers with a novel ambient pressure ionization method for desorbing molecular ions for mass spectrometry studies on samples that cannot be held under vacuum. Construction of the ambient MeV SIMS beam line is scheduled to begin in July, 2011.