Production and Applications of Metal-cluster-complex Ion Beams

A new ion source using massive molecules called metal cluster complexes has been developed. Metal cluster complexes are chemically-synthesized organometallic compounds, which have a wide range of chemical compositions with high molecular weight. The ion source is compact enough to be installed in commonly used secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) systems. Using the ion source, sputtering characteristics of silicon bombarded with normally incident Ir4(CO)7+ ions were investigated. Experimental results showed that the sputtering yield at 10 keV was 36, which is higher than that with Ar+ ions by a factor of 24. In addition, SIMS analyses of boron-delta-doped silicon samples and organic films of poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) were performed. Compared with conventional O2+ ion beams, Ir4(CO)7+ ion beams improved depth resolution by a factor of 2.5 at the same irradiation conditions; the highest depth resolution of 0.9 nm was obtained at 5 keV, 45° with oxygen flooding of 1.3×10-4 Pa. Furthermore, experimental results confirmed that Ir4(CO)7+ ion beams significantly enhanced secondary ion intensity in high-mass region.