Patent ID: 6552338
Filing Date: 2003-04-22
Classification: G01N

Abstract:
An apparatus for correlating, from the interaction of a high energy ion with a sample, a position signal and a signal representing a sample characteristic property, comprising:an unfocussed source of high energy ions directed at a surface of a sample; said sample coated with a thin phosphor from which ion-induced photons are emitted in response to impacts from high energy ions; a photon projection system to refocus and project individual ion-induced photons produced on the sample by said high energy ions, said photon projection system having an image plane; a photon position sensitive detector placed at the image plane of the photon projection system, said detector producing a first signal by which the impact point (X,Y) of each ion is determined; a sensor means associated with the sample to detect a characteristic property of the sample caused by the impact of a high energy ion from the unfocussed ion source, said sensor means producing a second signal S representing said sample characteristic property; and a correlator means to correlate and store said first signal with said second signal by means of coincidence.