Organic SIMS with single massive gold projectile: Ion yield enhancement by silver metallization

The yield of CN from glycine rises from one CN per projectile impact to two when the sample is covered with a nominally 1 nm thick layer of silver. These yields were obtained for bombardment with Au400 4+ projectile with 136 keV impact energy. A multitude of CN-based clusters, e.g. AgxOy(CN)z are produced concurrently. As a result, a total of three CN-based secondary ions are generated per projectile impact. The exceptionally high yield for CN is of interest for biological SIMS.