Back-to-basics tutorial: Secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) in ceramics

Secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) is a sophisticated and powerful analytical technique to characterise the surface and sub-surface of materials. It has been widely used in materials science due to its trace level sensitivity to the full range of elements and isotopes, capability of profiling from surface to bulk, and various modes to provide information from the mass spectrum to 2D and 3D elemental distribution. In this article, we will discuss the working principles of SIMS, instrumentation information, issues related to measurements and data analysis with some case studies as well as the possible pitfalls. It will be by no means exhaustive for SIMS analysis but the aim of this article is to lower the boundaries for students and researchers who are going to perform their first SIMS analyses. The examples will be focused on solid state materials for energy applications only, albeit SIMS has been widely used for the surface analysis on all kinds of materials.