HIM-SIMS - a New Tool for the Geosciences

The Helium Ion Microscope is an imaging microscope which offers secondary electron imaging capabilities down to a sub-nanometer scale. With the addition of Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry capabilities, it is an exciting new tool for geological materials. Here I aim to describe the functionality and design of the combined HIM-SIMS instrument, alongside its capabilities for the analysis of geological samples. The HIM-SIMS covers a high mass range from as low as Li, up to hundreds of atomic mass units, at concentrations down to the parts per million with a primary ion probe size below 10 nm. I will present examples demonstrating the capabilities of the instrument along with a short example of a full scientific workflow, for the analysis of extra-terrestrial meteorite impacts.