Evaluation of a gold LMIG for detecting small molecules in a polymer matrix by ToF-SIMS

Both pharmaceuticals and polymer additives in a variety of polymers have been studied by ToF-SIMS. A quantitative study was done on several chemical systems of the relative enhancement offered by a gold cluster primary ion beam compared to a gallium primary ion beam. In general, the Au LMIG offers a significant enhancement of the small molecule ion yield relative to Gaþ sputtering. The atomic Auþ ion provides at least a 10 ion yield enhancement compared to Gaþ sputtering due to its higher mass. It is interesting that the Au2þ primary ion results in a significant 10 enhancement over Auþ sputtering while using Au3þ only provides a 2 further enhancement over Au2þ. # 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved