VISUALIZATION OF A BURIED ORGANIC INTERLACE BY IMAGING TIME-OF-FLIGHTSECONDARY-ION MASS-SPECTROMETRY AND SCANNING AUGER MICROPROBE OF AN ION-BEAM CRATER EDGE

A method has been developed for chemically imaging a buried organic in terface of thickness similar to that of a biological conditioning film . Using an ion beam to form a sputter crater, elemental analysis of th e edge of the crater is performed using Auger electron spectroscopy an d chemical imaging of the edge is performed by time-of-flight secondar y ion mass spectrometry. The crater edge that is formed due to the sha pe of the ion beam and geometry of the spectrometer has the ability to magnify the interfaces by 1000X. Samples mimicking titanium bone impl ant protheses were analyzed to demonstrate the feasibility of the meth od. (C) 1996 American Vacuum Society.