Published online by Cambridge University Press: 14 July 2006
The focus of this review is on trace-element quantitation of microstructures in solids. This review is aimed at the nonspecialist who wants to know how secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) quantitation is achieved. Despite 35 years of SIMS research and applications, SIMS quantitation remains a fundamentally empirical enterprise and is based on standards. The most used standards are “bulk standards”—solids with a homogeneous distribution of a trace element—and ion-implanted solids. The SIMS systematics of bulk standards and ion-implanted solids are reviewed.