SECONDARY NEUTRAL MASS-SPECTROMETRY (SNMS)-RECENT METHODICAL PROGRESS AND APPLICATIONS TO FUNDAMENTAL-STUDIES IN PARTICLE SURFACE INTERACTION

Recent instrumental developments of the conventional secondary neutral mass spectrometry (SNMS) technique based on electron gas post-ionization are described with regard to its application to non-conducting samples and its implementation in a novel secondary neutral microprobe. The use of molecular SNMS signals for quantitative surface analysis, and a standard free technique for absolute depth calibration from the mass spectrometric signals are discussed and elucidated by appropriate examples. Finally, some applications of electron gas SNMS to fundamental studies on low energy particle/surface interaction are presented.