Ion photon emission microscopy

A new ion-induced emission microscopy has been invented and demonstrated, which is called ion photon emission microscopy (IPEM). It employs a low current, broad ion beam impinging on a sample, previously coated or simply covered with a few microns of a fast, highly efficient phosphor layer. The light produced at the single ion impact point is collected with an optical microscope and projected at high magnification onto a single photon position sensitive detector (PSD). This allows maps of the ion strike effects to be produced, effectively removing the need for a microbeam. Irradiation in air and even the use of alpha particle sources with no accelerator are possible. Potential applications include ion beam induced charge collection studies of semiconducting and insulating materials, single event upset studies on microchips and even biological cells in radiobiological effectiveness experiments. We describe the IPEM setup, including a 60× OM-40 microscope with a 1.5 mm hole for the beam transmission and a Quantar PSD with 60 μm pixel. Bicron plastic scintillator blades of 10 μm were chosen as a phosphor for their nanosecond time resolution, homogeneity, utility and commercial availability. The results given in this paper are for a prototype IPEM system. They indicate a resolution of ∼12 μm, the presence of a spatial halo and a He-ion efficiency of ∼20%. This marks the first time that nuclear microscopy has been performed with a radioactive source.