SAFIR, Fast Ion Beam Analysis System, is an ion beam analysis platform at the INSP, open to Sorbonne Université researchers, industrial partners, and international collaborations, via the national research infrastructure EMIR&A and European projects.
The platform enables qualitative and quantitative analysis of thin (< 1 µm) or ultra-thin (< 10 nm) layers, in fields as varied as nanoscience, materials science, microelectronics, corrosion, electrochemistry, and even geology and planetology. This analysis system relies on the interactions between fast particle beams from the Van de Graaff accelerator and sample atoms, to probe the structural and compositional profiles (including isotopic) of the near-surface region of solids.
A platform with complementary techniques
- RBS (Rutherford Backscattering Spectrometry)
- NRA (Nuclear Reaction Analysis)
- NRP (Nuclear Resonance Profiling)
- ERDA (Elastic Recoil Detection Analysis)
A very-high depth-resolution analysis instrument, MEIS (Medium Energy Ion Scattering), will provide sub-nanometre resolution within the first 20 nm; its analysis chamber is already used routinely for RBS and NRA, while the electrostatic analyser specific to the MEIS technique is being recommissioned.
A new beamline is also under development, supported by the PEPR SCIAM programme, dedicated to the quantitative determination of hydrogen and deuterium concentration profiles in the first few microns of materials.
Beyond analysis, the platform also enables ion implantation, to modify a material in a controlled way (semiconductor doping, irradiation studies).
In all these cases, ion channelling can provide information on atomic order, extended and point defects, epitaxial relationships, and strain fields in single-crystal systems.
Recent publications
95 scientific publications listed on HAL