Scanning ion microscopy applications of novel focused ion beam (FIB) systems based on ultracold rubidium (Rb) and cesium (Cs) atoms were investigated via ion-induced electron and ion yields. Results measured on the Rb+ and Cs+ FIB systems were compared with results from commercially available gallium (Ga+) systems to verify the merits of applying Rb+ and Cs+ for imaging. The comparison shows that Rb+ and Cs+ have higher secondary electron (SE) yields on a variety of pure element targets than Ga+, which implies a higher signal-to-noise ratio can be achieved for the same dose in SE imaging using Rb+/Cs+ than Ga+. In addition, analysis of the ion-induced ion signals reveals that secondary ions dominate Cs+ induced ion signals while the Rb+/Ga+ induced signals contain more backscattered ions.
@article{arxiv.2403.05460,
title = {Rubidium and cesium ion-induced electron and ion signals for scanning ion microscopy applications},
author = {Y. Li and S. Xu and T. H. Loeber and E. J. D. Vredenbregt},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2403.05460},
year = {2024}
}