Depth resolution, angle dependence, and the sputtering yield of Irganox 1010 by coronene primary ions

Chemical Imaging of Buried Interfaces in Organic-Inorganic Devices Using Focused Ion Beam-Time-of-Flight-Secondary-Ion Mass Spectrometry

Organic-inorganic hybrid materials enable the design and fabrication of new materials with enhanced properties. The interface between the organic and inorganic materials is often critical to the device's performance; therefore, chemical characterization is of significant interest. Because the interfaces are often buried, milling by focused ion beams (FIBs) to expose the interface is becoming increasingly popular. Chemical imaging can subsequently be obtained using secondary-ion mass spectrometry (SIMS). However, the FIB milling process damages the organic material. In this study, we make an organic-inorganic test structure to develop a detailed understanding of the processes involved in FIB milling and SIMS imaging. We provide an analysis methodology that involves a "clean-up" process using sputtering with an argon gas cluster ion source to remove the FIB-induced damage. The methodology is evaluated for two additive manufactured devices, an encapsulated strain sensor containing silver tracks embedded in a polymeric material and a copper track on a flexible polymeric substrate created using a novel nanoparticle sintering technique.

Depth resolution at organic interfaces sputtered by argon gas cluster ions: the effect of energy, angle and cluster size

This paper presents, for the first time, the different operating parameters defining the best depth resolution in SIMS organic analysis.