The Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) was successfully installed into the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) in 1997 February, during the second HST servicing mission, STS-82. STIS is a versatile spectrograph, covering the 115-1000 nm wavelength range in a variety of spectroscopic and imaging modes that take advantage of the angular resolution, unobstructed wavelength coverage, and dark sky offered by the HST. In the months since launch, a number of performance tests and calibrations have been carried out and are continuing. These tests demonstrate that the instrument is performing very well. We present here a synopsis of the results to date.

We have built a particle analyzer capable of real-time detection and characterization of individual particles. Particle analysis is accomplished by pulsed laser ablation of a particle followed by time-of-fiight mass spectrometry of the resulting atomic and molecular ions. The detected ions are characteristic of a particle's

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Articles you may be interested inFocused ion beam processing of organic crystal ( TMTSF ) 2 PF 6 . A combined conducting probe atomic force microscopy and secondary ion mass spectrometry study Negative cesium sputter ion source for generating cluster primary ion beams for secondary ion mass spectrometry analysisThe semiconductor industry demands elemental information from ever smaller regions. The sensitivity of secondary ion mass spectrometry, coupled with the lateral resolution of a focused ion beam, can provide nanoscale elemental data that are competitive with that from other analytical techniques. Ion images of the sidewalls in repetitive semiconductor features tilted to present a large surface area have shown boron contamination after an etch process. The boron is removed by a specific cleaning step. Spot defect analysis was enhanced by the use of mass spectra that provide information on a range of elements before the defect is removed by sputtering. Ion implanted samples were analyzed in cross section and the implant shape detected. Summation of the secondary ion counts in the implant cross section over a few micrometers resulted in detection limits below 0.1 at. %. Implantation profiles have been detected for Al, Cr, Na, Li, and K without the aid of secondary ion enhancing species, such as oxygen or cesium.

A particle analyser is described that simultaneously detects and characterizes < 0.02 to =-10 h m diameter particles independent of particle composition in real time. No previous instrument has been able to perform these functions simultaneously. Our design uses pulsed laser ablation of particles followed by time-of-flight mass spectrometric analysis of the resulting ions. The ion intensity is related to particle size at least for small particles. Thus particle size information is obtained concurrently with the other information.