Sandia's Ion Beam Analysis (IBA) program is recognized as one of the best in the world. It has the ability to examine a wide spectrum of materials, from semiconductors to metals and ceramics. Some of the accomplishments of the program include:
- Invented several new ion beam analysis techniques for the quantitative analysis of light elements (H through F), and heavy elements (C through Pu).
- Enhanced nuclear microprobe-based Single Event Upset (SEU) imaging system to supply submicron images of charge generation and collection in CMOS ICs. This new application of SEU-imaging is important for understanding and decreasing upset susceptibility.
Capabilities and Resources
The IBA is available to perform the following quantitative/standardless analyses:
- Compositional and depth profiling of materials using Rutherford back scattering spectrometry (RBS)
- Elastic recoil detection using a high energy, heavy ion beam (for example, 28 MeV Si) to recoil or knock light elements from a target. This enables the profiling of very light elements such as H.
- Time-of-flight elastic recoil detection using a time-of-flight detector to achieve much higher depth resolution (1nm) and permit the separation of different isotopes of the element.
- Ion channeling to probe the atomic structure of a material in the near surface, allowing the depth profiling of defects and strain
- External ion beam analysis on a variety of materials that cannot be placed in a vacuum system
- Quantitative elemental analysis using particle-induced x-ray emission with detection sensitivities of µg/g
- 3-dimensional elemental distribution maps.
The IBA places the following equipment at the service of its industry partners:
- 6 MV tandem Van de Graaff accelerators for analyses requiring high energies (for example, light element profiling and high energy back scattering).
- Van de Graaff accelerator for more routine IBA techniques such as RBS and channeling.
- Cockroft Walton accelerator, which can operate up to 350 KV, for the HIBS analysis.
- RFQ booster for gold ions at 380 MeV.
Availability
This facility is available to support any based firm that has applications that can benefit from its unique capabilities. To make arrangements to use the Ion Beam Laboratory, contact the user liaison or visit the IBA Table of Elements site to quickly retrieve information on the sensitivity, depth of analysis and depth resolution of most of the modern ion beam analysis techniques in a single easy to use format; a periodic table.
