There have been tremendous advances in imaging with secondary ion mass spectrometry over the last decade.  The emergence of cluster projectiles, ion sources with sub-micron focus, new mass analyzers, advanced sample preparation methods and advanced software have contributed to the hardware revolution.  Fundamental understanding of cluster/solid interactions with molecular dynamics computer simulations has also provided guidance for development of new experiments.  Here, we discuss the implications of these developments for 2-dimensional chemical imaging on the nanometer scale, and the implementation of molecular depth profiling via ion beam milling to create a 3-dimensional rendering.  Issues include minimization of chemical damage accumulation, maximization of depth resolution, now ~5 nm, and acquisition of sufficient sensitivity to map the distribution of molecules at low concentration.  Applications will be focused on the 3-dimensional imaging of lipids and other small molecules in single biological cells with sub-cellular resolution.

Award Address  (ACS Award in Analytical Chemistry sponsored by Battelle Memorial Institute). Molecule-specific imaging at the nanoscale with mass spectrometry

244th National Meeting (2012)

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