Charge neutralization using secondary electron shower for shave-off depth profiling by focused ion beam secondary ion mass spectrometry

It is very important problem for microbeam analyses to neutralize charge-up phenomenon. In our previous study, the charge-up phenomenon occurred during the shave-off depth profiling in the case of insulated samples. We developed a new neutralization method to improve the accuracy of the shave-off depth profile by FIB-SIMS. By using new method, ripples on secondary ion signals were suppressed and the shave-off depth profile reflected the precise layered shape of insulator samples without charge-up problems.