INVESTIGATION OF HYDROGEN SENSITIVITY OF SIMS METHOD

Generally, papers in which hydrogen detection by the SIMS method is described do not touch upon the sensitivity and background level of hydrogen during the SIMS analysis. Problems connected with the detection and sensitivity of hydrogen in our SIMS equipment are discussed in this paper. In order to determine the hydrogen sensitivity, pure zirconium, zirconium hydride and high-purity silicon samples as well as the composition of the residual of the vacuum system were investigated. The composition data of the argon gas used for sputtering were considered too. From the results of the measurements the sensitivity and the sensitivity factor of hydrogen can be stated.