SIMS Community

Resources, Support and the latest Research into SIMS

Serving the international research community

World leader in SIMS, CAMECA brings over decades of innovation and expertise in micro and nano-analysis to meet the needs of the most prominent scientists at large corporations, major universities, academic institutions and government laboratories around the world. Since pioneering Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry in the 1960s, CAMECA has developed a complete SIMS product line. Each of our high-end instruments ensures the best performance for a given application.

Applications

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Advanced Materials

Gain a deeper understanding of advanced materials used for transportation, energy production, aerospace, and even consumer products.

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Geoscience

Analysis of stable and radiogenic isotopes, light elements, REE... CAMECA supports the geoscience community.

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Energy Materials

We support innovations in the field of green energy and LED lighting, help optimize sharp interface transitions between layers of varying composition in PV.

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Environmental Science

From microbial ecology and oceanography to nuclear safeguards, SIMS and NanoSIMS are tools of choice for quantitative analysis.

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Life Science

Intracellular metabolic pathways, DNA expression, virus penetration and drug localization... we enable important medical advancements.

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Metals

Our instruments are used worldwide for R&D as well as process control of metals and alloys for industrial applications.

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Nuclear Science

Support nuclear science & industry: development of innovative alloys, exploration of radiation damage processes, nuclear safeguards.

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Semiconductor

Our nanoanalysis and metrology solutions enable the development and mass production of new generation electronic devices at the latest node.

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Publications

Access a wealth of scientific articles by users of CAMECA instruments in fields spanning materials science, nuclear, geo and cosmochemistry, life and environmental sciences.

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Since we started to work with CAMECA IMS 1280 in 2008, we have developed U-(Th)-Pb dating procedures on more than ten kinds of accessory minerals to broaden understanding of in-situ geochronology. The good performance of this instrument made it feasible to date with as small as 2 micron-spot size. We bought the second one (IMS 1280-HR) in 2013 because of the increasing workload. These two instruments are serving a wide range of scientists worldwide. "

Prof. Qiuli Li

Institute of geology and geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

NanoSIMS has even proven invaluable in the visualization and monitoring of therapeutic nanoparticles, thereby enhancing our knowledge of drug delivery mechanisms at the cellular level. "

Prof. Gary Siuzdak

Scripps Center for Metabolomics, USA

In particular, the chemical mapping of both boron and phosphorus with SIMS has been instrumental in detecting and quantifying any instances of cross-doping, where dopant atoms migrate or diffuse across unintended regions of the solar cell, which can have detrimental effects on cell performance... In-situ microanalytical instrumentation such as D-SIMS is instrumental in monitoring localized doping and advancing this promising technology. "

Dr. Sieu Pheng Phang

Australian National University, Australia

By applying SIMS to my samples from the Greenland Ice Sheet, I was able to generate single-cell measurements of microbial activity and nutrient uptake, revealing how these algae thrive in such a harsh environment and may expand across the ice in the future. The SIMS measurements provided the first single-cell data on carbon and nitrogen uptake in glacier ice algae, showing their minimal nutrient requirements and resilience in extreme environments. For me, this clearly highlights SIMS as a unique and powerful method for quantifying microbial activity and advancing our understanding of elemental cycling. "

Dr. Laura Halbach

Max-Planck-Institute for Marine Biology, Bremen, Germany

LG-SIMS is a critical tool in geoscience research because it can achieve high-precision analyses on very small and shallow samples. "

Hugo H. K. Olierook

Curtin University, Australia

The high sensitivity and spatial resolution of SIMS opens exciting opportunities to detect traces of past volcanic eruptions in cave deposits, while high-precision oxygen isotope analysis allows reconstruction of past climates in the same materials. By applying SIMS techniques to measure sulfur concentrations and oxygen isotopes in a sample from a cave in Germany, we could, for the first time, directly link a cave record from Central Europe with ice core data from Greenland, with the respective volcanic sulfur spikes of the Laacher See eruption as tie points. "

Axel K. Schmitt

John de Laeter Centre, Curtin University, Australia

The ability of the LG-SIMS instruments to obtain high-precision oxygen isotopic data from tiny zircon domains allowed us to uncover the earliest evidence of Earth’s hydrological cycle. The fine-tuned instrument performance and reliable data acquisition made it possible to tackle questions that were previously beyond reach. "

Hamed Gamaleldien

Khalifa University, Abu Dhabi Emirate, UAE

SIMS provides a unique opportunity to assess isotopic heterogeneity among individual grains within rocks or sediments. By applying this technique to measure the sulfur isotope composition of micrometer-sized pyrite grains from Lake Cadagno, we were able to demonstrate unambiguously that pyrite preserved the isotopic evolution of the dissolved sulfide pool over the past decades. "

Juliette Dupeyron

University of Lausanne and Institut de physique du Globe de Paris, France

CAMECA large-radius SIMS instruments define state of the art for in situ analysis of isotope ratios from the smallest possible spots. The WiscSIMS IMS 1280 routinely produces better precision and accuracy than previously imagined, enabling new areas of enquiry and discovery from paleoclimatology to zircons to meteoritics. "

Prof. John Valley & Noriko Kita

University of Wisconsin, Madison, USA

AKONIS monitors Ge concentration variations during etching and estimates the percentage of Ge remaining. Its superior single detection system and unique high extraction field technology provide a very high dynamic range with unparalleled depth, resolution, and sensitivity. "

At IHPP PAS (Unipress), we work on nitride semiconductors—from gallium nitride (GaN) crystals to advanced devices such as laser diodes. SIMS testing is fundamental to our research, allowing us to assess material purity and precisely control the implantation of acceptor dopants like magnesium into GaN substrates... As we continue exploring new directions in GaN-based technologies, SIMS will remain a key tool for guiding our material development and process optimization. "

Artur Lachowski

High Pressure Research Center of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland

The high quality of the phosphorus depth profiles obtained by SIMS enabled us to evidence dopant redistribution mechanisms, with a fineness beyond our hopes. "

Dr. Sebastien Kerdiles

CEA-LETI, France

Among the various techniques employed at the CEA-Grenoble NanoCharacterization Platform (PFNC), dynamic SIMS maintains a leading role in supporting the development of emerging nanotechnologies, thanks to its exceptional sensitivity and superior depth resolution. "

Marc Veillerot

CEA LETI, France

Our IMS 7f instrument was just being installed when the 3rd November 2011 earthquake happened. Despite seismic intensity of 7 and subsequent nuclear plant trouble, our university being located 100 km from Fukushima, CAMECA staff could solve the vibration related molecular pump issues and perfectly install the instrument. Since then, the Tohoku University IMS 7f has proven to be a robust machine, stable over time and incredibly versatile. We use it successfully for a wide variety of challenging microanalytical tasks such as characterization of diffusion in solid materials for fuel cells, depth profiles for multi layers in electric devices, behaviors of additional elements in steels or ceramics, dating in geoscience, isotopes analysis in biology. "

Dr. Takamichi Miyazaki

Tohoku University School of Engineering, Japan

As a materials scientist focused on understanding the role of microstructure and environment in materials performance, the unique microchemical information attainable using the NanoSIMS is providing unique insights into hydrogen-assisted fracture that cannot be obtained via other analytical techniques. Our research using NanoSIMS has demonstrated the localization of hydrogen in the plastic zone ahead of fatigue cracks in austenitic stainless steel. NanoSIMS is the perfect complement to advanced analytical electron microscopy and atom probe tomography, as it provides essential information concerning elemental segregation at spatial resolutions necessary for correlation with the general microstructure. "

Dr. Greg McMahon & Prof. Grace Burke

Materials Performance Centre, University of Manchester, UK

Our IMS 7f gives us analytical capabilities for highly sensitive quantitative analysis of light elements, particularly Oxygen and Hydrogen, in Zr alloys after exposure in high temperature steam environment simulating conditions in VVER nuclear reactors. In combination with the CAMECA APM software we can use our IMS 7f for fast search, identification, and isotopic analysis of micrometer size dust particles containing nuclear material – a capability that we never had before. "

Dr. Jan Lorincik

Research Center Rez, Czech Republic

 Since 1999 CAMECA IMS 6f has been used for the research on isotope ratio analysis of uranium in individual particles in the environment at JAEA (Japan Atomic Energy Agency). These analysis data are regularly provided to IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) and are highly evaluated by IAEA. End of 2017 we have newly introduced a CAMECA IMS 1300–HR³, which realizes more precise isotope ratio measurements, and have started new researches. It is impossible to perform without using CAMECA’s SIMS instruments with high performance and reliability. They continue to be widely utilized in the field of nuclear sciences and environmental sciences. "

Dr. Fumitaka Esaka

Japan Atomic Energy Agency, Ibaraki, Japan

Among all characterization techniques used, SIMS uniquely enabled direct verification that helium incorporation remained minimal and that implanted or incorporated helium could diffuse out during laser processing or subsequent annealing. "

Prof. Ji-Hong Zhao

Jilin University, Changchun, China

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SIMS Publications

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Service and maintenance

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Reliable, high‑quality data starts with consistent care, and our AMECare service and maintenance packages make that simple. Whether you prefer the peace of mind of an annual contract or the flexibility of on‑demand support, we have tailored solutions designed to fit your workflow, protect uptime, and extend the life of your equipment.