Quantitation of major elements with secondary ion mass spectrometry by using M-2(+)-molecular ions

Abstract

A new quantitation method, based on the detection of M-2(+) molecular ions, is presented. It has been shown that M-2(+) molecular ions are formed by a recombination process between independently sputtered M and M+ particles. Based on this formation mechanism, it will be demonstrated that M-2(+) molecular ions can be used to quantitate major elements. The method will be used for quantitation of an AlxGa1-xAs multilayer. Furthermore, it will be shown that some matrix effects can be explained by the energy dependence of instrument transmission. (C) 1998 American Society for Mass Spectrometry.