Information on SIMS primary beam current

Primary beam current values are linear to signal intensities.

All analyses performed after 4/22/1993 had a primary beam decrease, usually in a order of magnitude, for the aluminum images taken on MOS samples. Please refer to the comments of the particular analyses for analysis-specific information. Due to the "dynamic" nature of the database activity, the author was unable to provide appropriate storage space for the primary beam current in the IDE datafile.

If the primary beam current value was not written down in the notebook by the operator, the author assigned it a value of 0, indicating a missing value. Be advised, though, that it is usually safe to assume that this value was the same for analyses done at a similar time. It is the author's impression that the value was explicitly written down in the notebook when a change in the analysis procedure was performed.



Klaus G. Paul, 4-30-1994