Gas Cluster Ion Beams

Gas cluster ion beams (GCIB) are beams of cluster ions, ideal for sputtering and SIMS analysis of organic matter. GCIBs are highly versatile and can adjust to an experiment’s needs by varying the cluster species, size, and energy.

In the early 2000s, Yamada et al. were the first to discover the excellent low-damage sputtering properties of GCIBs. Since then, the applications of GCIBs have snowballed, from surface cleaning and low-damage etching to uncovering secrets of cell metabolism.

The first and most common gas species for GCIBs is argon. Its inert nature makes it an excellent choice for etching and cleaning applications. However, as GCIBs began to be used for SIMS applications, new gas species emerged, including CO₂ and, most recently, H₂O. The reactive nature of these species improves the secondary ion yield up to 500 times, greatly enhancing the technique’s sensitivity.

Explore our range of GCIBs and their applications below.

Mass spectrum of mouse brain tissue acquired on the J105 SIMS with the GCIB 70. Gas Cluster Ion Beams significantly increase the yield of high-mass ions, such as lipids, producing incredibly rich spectra even when imaging at 1.5 μm.

Application Notes

Ionoptika 2020

Ion Beams and their Applications

May 19, 2022

J105 SIMS	(CO2)n+, (H2O)n+, and (H2O)n+ (CO2) gas cluster ion beam secondary ion mass spectrometry: analysis of lipid extracts, cells, and Alzheimers model mouse brain tissue	K Dimovska Nilsson, A Karagianni, I Kaya, M Henricsson, JS Fletcher	Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry	2021	TOF SIMS, Bio, J105 SIMS, Water Source
GCIB 10S	Gas cluster ion beam SEM for imaging of large tissue samples with 10nm isotropic resolution	KJ Hayworth, D Peale, M Januszewski, GW Knott, Z Lu, CS Xu, HF Hess	Nature Methods	2020	Depth Profiling, SEM, GCIB-SEM
J105 SIMS	Enhanced Ion Yields Using High Energy Water Cluster Beams for Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry Analysis and Imaging	S Sheraz, H Tian, JC Vickerman, P Blenkinsopp, N Winograd, P Cumpson	Analytical Chemistry	2019	TOF SIMS, J105 SIMS, Water Source
J105 SIMS	Exploiting the Semidestructive Nature of Gas Cluster Ion Beam Time-of-Flight Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry Imaging for Simultaneous Localization and Confident Lipid Annotations	TB Angerer, D Velickovic, CD Nicora, JE Kyle, DJ Graham, C Anderton, LJ Gamble	Analytical Chemistry	2019	TOF SIMS, Bio, Imaging, Lipidomics
J105 SIMS	Matrix effects in biological SIMS using cluster ion beams of different chemical composition	AM Alnajeebi, JC Vickerman, NP Lockyer	Biointerfaces	2016	TOF SIMS, Bio, Matrix effects
J105 SIMS	Angle Dependence of Argon Gas Cluster Sputtering Yields for Organic Materials	MP Seah, SJ Spencer, AG Shard	The Journal of Physical Chemistry B	2015	Depth profiling, fundamental

Gas Cluster Ion Beams

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