Method and apparatus for storing measured data from sub-regions of a sputter crater which is generated and analyzed in a secondary ion mass spectrometer

US4860225A · kind A · utility

Assignee

• Siemens Aktiengesellschaft · DE

Inventors

• Rolf Von Criegern · Geretsried, DE
• Peter Fazekas · Munich, DE
• Johannes Fottner · Jetzendorf, DE

Key dates

• Filing date: Apr 7, 1988
• Grant date: Aug 22, 1989
• Expiry date: Apr 7, 2008

Classification

• Technology area (CPC H): Electricity
• CPC primary: H01J49/0036
• WIPO field: Measurement
• WIPO sector: Instruments

Abstract

A method and an apparatus for storing measured data from a sputter crater which is generated and analyzed in a secondary ion mass spectrometer is considerably more simple and cost-effective than techniques requiring complete data storage and is an improvement over the known standard integral method. The region swept by the ion beam of a secondary ion mass spectrometer is subdivided into a plurality of sub-areas, one location in a memory is assigned to each of the sub-areas, the signal components occurring from the individual sub-areas are stored in the assigned memory locations during a sweep of the sputter crater with the ion beam, and the measured data are evaluated after the end of at least one scan of the sputter crater.