Dynamic SIMS for materials analysis in nuclear science

Abstract

Offering high sensitivity, depth profiling and ion imaging capabilities together with high throughput, dynamic secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) proves extremely useful for a wide range of nuclear science applications. The CAMECA IMS 7f/7f-Auto is a versatile magnetic sector SIMS well suited for such applications. In this work, various examples of material analyses that are of interest for nuclear science are presented: depth profiling of the xenon and mapping of contaminants in CeO 2 , in-depth distribution of iodine in SiC using the energy filtering technique for improving the I detection limit, and depth profiling analysis of molybdenum in UO 2 using eucentric sample rotation for minimizing surface roughness development (thus improving data quality).

Effect of the Oxygen Potential on the Mo Migration and Speciation in UO2 and UO2+x

“…Measurements were performed at low mass-resolving power, and the energy bandwidth was set at 100 eV. The instrument was equipped with a eucentric rotating stage (rotation speed of 15 rpm), in order to avoid the preferential UO 2 grains sputtering . Raster depths were measured by optical interferometry on a Sensofar Neox device (INSA, Lyon, France).…”

“…The instrument was equipped with a eucentric rotating stage (rotation speed of 15 rpm), in order to avoid the preferential UO 2 grains sputtering. 33 Raster depths were measured by optical interferometry on a Sensofar Neox device (INSA, Lyon, France). The Mo concentration was determined using the RSF method, described in detail in ref 34.…”

Effect of molybdenum on the behaviour of caesium in uranium dioxide at high temperature

“…Analyses were performed on a CAMECA IMS 7f spectrometer at the Jean Lamour Institute (IJL), Nancy, France. This instrument is equipped with an eucentric rotating sample stage (see [22] for more details), to improve the depth resolution by inhibiting the surface roughening during SIMS analysis of poly-crystalline materials. We have previously shown that this device allows one to minimize the preferential grain abrasion of UO2 polycrystalline pellets, therefore yielding reproducible concentration profiles [18,23,24].…”