Mass spectrometry system and method

Abstract

A mass spectrometry system includes a sample holder provided in a vacuum changer and on which a sample is disposed, an irradiator configured to perform sputtering or ionization on the sample, an analyzer configured to analyze an ionized sample generated from the sample by the irradiator, and a controller configured to control the irradiator or the analyzer and perform a first process and a second process. The first process is to determine position information of materials in the sample by irradiating a laser or ion beam to a portion of the sample, and the second process is to irradiate a laser or ion beam of a first output value to another portion of the sample in a section in which the materials in the sample change and irradiate a laser or ion beam of a second output value in other sections.

Claims

1. A mass spectrometry system comprising: a sample holder provided in a vacuum chamber and on which a sample is disposed; an irradiator configured to perform sputtering or ionization on the sample disposed on the sample holder; an analyzer configured to analyze an ionized sample generated from the sample by the irradiator; and a controller configured to control the irradiator or the analyzer, wherein the controller is configured to perform a first process and a second process, wherein the first process comprises irradiating an ion beam to a portion of the sample and determining position information of one or more materials included in the sample, and the second process comprises irradiating, to another portion of the sample, a ion beam of a first output value in a section in which the materials included in the sample change, and irradiating a laser beam of a third output value in other sections; wherein the first process is performed on an edge portion of the sample which is a target to be analyzed, and performed by the first irradiation source, and the second process comprises the sputtering of the sample and the ionization of the sample, and the sputtering is performed by the first irradiation source and the ionization is performed by the second irradiation source, wherein the sputtering and the ionization are performed alternately, wherein the sputtering is performed by the ion beam of the first output value in the section in which the materials included in the sample change, and the sputtering is performed by the ion beam of the second output value in the other sections, and the ionization is performed by the laser of a third output value in an entire section; and wherein the first output value is less than the second output value, and wherein the first process is repeatedly performed a plural number of times, and the position information of the materials included in the sample is calculated based on a mean value of sets of data of the first process performed each time, and wherein the section in which the materials included in the sample change is defined as a range with an error of 5% to 10% in a vertical direction based on a reformed surface formed by different materials.

2. The mass spectrometry system of claim 1, wherein the first output value or the second output value is set based on a prestored data table.

3. The mass spectrometry system of claim 1 wherein the sample is formed or bio or organic material.

4. A mass spectrometry method comprising: determining position information of one or more materials included in a sample by irradiating an ion beam to a portion of the sample; and analyzing the sample by irradiating an ion beam for sputtering to another portion of the sample and irradiating a laser for ionization of the sample to the other portion of the sample, based on the position information, wherein the sputtering and the ionization are performed alternately in sequential order, wherein the analyzing comprises: performing the sputtering by an ion beam of a first output value in a section in which the materials included in the sample change, and performing the sputtering by an ion beam of a second output value in other sections, wherein the first output value is less than the second output value; performing the ionization on the sample by a laser of a third output value in an entire section; wherein the determining of the position information is repeatedly performed a plural number of times, wherein the position information of the materials included in the sample is calculated based on a mean value of sets of data obtained by the determining of the position information performed each time, and the section in which the materials included in the sample change is defined as a range with an error of 5% to 10% in a vertical direction based on a reformed surface formed by different materials.

5. The mass spectrometry method of claim 4 wherein the sample is formed of bio or organic material.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) These and/or other aspects, features, and advantages of the present disclosure will become apparent and more readily appreciated from the following description of example embodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings of which:

(2) FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a mass spectrometry system according to an example embodiment;

(3) FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a first process and a second process of a mass spectrometry system according to an example embodiment;

(4) FIG. 3 is an example of experimental data of an ion beam and a laser included in a mass spectrometry system according to an example embodiment;

(5) FIG. 4 is an example of experimental data of an ion beam and a laser included in a mass spectrometry system according to an example embodiment; and

(6) FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a mass spectrometry method according to an example embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

(7) Hereinafter, example embodiments will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. It should be understood, however, that there is no intent to limit this disclosure to the particular example embodiments disclosed. On the contrary, example embodiments are to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the scope of the example embodiments.

(8) The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular example embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting. As used herein, the singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the,” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises,” “comprising,” “includes,” and/or “including,” when used herein, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof. In addition, terms such as first, second, A, B, (a), (b), and the like may be used herein to describe components. Each of these terminologies is not used to define an essence, order, or sequence of a corresponding component but used merely to distinguish the corresponding component from other component(s). It should be noted that if it is described in the specification that one component is “connected,” “coupled,” or “joined” to another component, a third component may be “connected,” “coupled,” and “joined” between the first and second components, although the first component may be directly connected, coupled or joined to the second component.

(9) Hereinafter, example embodiments will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the description of example embodiments, detailed description of well-known related structures or functions will be omitted when it is deemed that such description will cause ambiguous interpretation of the present disclosure. Regarding the reference numerals assigned to the elements in the drawings, it should be noted that the same elements will be designated by the same reference numerals, wherever possible, even though they are shown in different drawings.

(10) FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a mass spectrometry system according to an example embodiment. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a first process and a second process of a mass spectrometry system according to an example embodiment. FIGS. 3 and 4 are examples of experimental data of an ion beam and a laser included in a mass spectrometry system according to an example embodiment. FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a mass spectrometry method according to an example embodiment.

(11) Referring to FIG. 1, a mass spectrometry system includes a sample holder 200 provided in a vacuum chamber 100 and on which a sample is to be disposed, an irradiator 300 configured to perform sputtering or ionization on the sample disposed on the sample holder 200, an analyzer 400 configured to analyze an ionized sample generated from the sample by the irradiator 300, and a controller 500 configured to control the irradiator 300 or the analyzer 400.

(12) The irradiator 300 includes a first irradiation source 310 including an ion beam source and a second irradiation source 320 including a laser beam source. The ion beam source may be a gas cluster ion beam (GCIB) source, for example.

(13) The controller 500 performs a first process and a second process.

(14) In detail, referring to FIG. 2, the first process is to determine position information of one or more materials included in the sample by irradiating a laser beam or an ion beam to a portion of the sample. The second process is to irradiate a laser beam or an ion beam of a first output value to another portion of the sample in a section in which the materials included in the sample change, and irradiate a laser beam or an ion beam of a second output value in other sections, based on the determined position information.

(15) That is, before the second process that performs a practical analysis of the sample including unknown materials, the first process may be performed first to determine the position information of the materials included in the sample, for example, information about a height position at which a material is positioned.

(16) Thus, by determining a position of a reformed surface formed by different materials included in the sample before performing the second process, it is possible to increase an analysis speed by performing the analysis using a laser beam or an ion beam with a high output value in previous sections prior to the reformed surface under the assumption that a same material exists continuously in the previous sections prior to the reformed surface, and to increase accuracy by performing the analysis using a laser beam or an ion beam with a low output value in a section corresponding to the reformed surface for a more precise analysis. Thus, it is possible to improve both the efficiency and the accuracy in the entire analysis. Here, the first process may be a preliminary and preceding process that is performed on an edge portion of the sample which is a target to be analyzed.

(17) Hereinafter, a detailed mechanism of the first process and the second process will be described in detail. Both the first process and the second process may include sputtering that sputters a surface of the sample and simply strips the sample layer by layer, and ionization that ionizes the sample to analyze materials included in the sample. The sputtering and the ionization may be performed alternately in sequential order.

(18) For example, the sputtering and the ionization in the first process may be performed all by a first irradiation source. The sputtering of the sample in the second process may be performed by the first irradiation source, and the ionization of the sample in the second process may be performed by a second irradiation source.

(19) In this example, the sputtering and the ionization in the first process may be performed by an ion beam of a single output value.

(20) In contrast, the sputtering in the second process may be performed by an ion beam of a first output value, for a section in which the materials included in the sample change. In addition, the sputtering in the second process may be performed by an ion beam of a second output value, for other sections excluding the section. Here, the first output value may be less than the second output value.

(21) In addition, the ionization of the sample in the second process may be performed by a laser beam of a third output value, for an entire section.

(22) The first process may be repeatedly performed a plural number of times. Thus, the position information of the one or more materials included in the sample may be calculated through a mean value of sets of data obtained through the first process performed each time.

(23) Here, the section in which the materials included in the sample change may be defined as a range having an error of 5% to 10% in a vertical direction based on the reformed surface formed by different materials included in the sample.

(24) The first output value and the second output value may be different from each other. The first output value or the second output value may be set based on a prestored data table. That is, the first output value or the second output value may be set to be an optimal output value by referring to the data table prestored based on types of the materials forming the sample that are determined through the first process.

(25) According to another example, an irradiator may include a single ion beam source. In this example, both the first process and the second process may be performed by an ion beam. However, in the second process, the sputtering and the ionization may be performed by an ion beam of a first output value for the section in which the materials included in the sample change, and be performed by an ion beam of a second output value for the other sections excluding the section.

(26) Referring to FIG. 3, when an analysis is performed by an ion beam using bismuth or argon, an unnecessary signal may be generated in a low-mass area as illustrated in 10 and 20 of FIG. 3. However, when the analysis is performed using a laser, for example, laser desorption ionization (LDI), it is possible to prevent the generation of an unnecessary signal in the low-mass area as illustrated in 30 of FIG. 3.

(27) FIG. 4 illustrates a time used when performing sputtering using an argon GCIB (Ar GCIB). For example, as illustrated, the sputtering was performed on TAPC, HAT-CN, and TPBi using an Ar GCIB with 2.5 kiloelectron-volts (keV) and an Ar cluster size of 1000, and a time used for performing the sputtering to a certain depth was measured.

(28) In detail, respective sputter times for the three materials were measured by adjusting a beam current of the Ar GCIB with 2.5 keV and the 1000 Ar cluster size to 0.4, 0.6, 0.8, and 1.0 nA. Here, a time used to sputter the sample to a depth of 50 nanometers (nm) was measured. Referring to experimental data of FIG. 4, when performing the sputtering with the beam current of 0.4 nA, it was verified that there is a great difference in sputter time among the three materials. In contrast, when the beam current is set to be 1.0 nA, it was verified that a deviation in sputter time among the three materials is the smallest.

(29) Thus, for example, when sputtering an organic light-emitting diode (OLED) sample to a depth of 50 nm by setting a beam current of an Ar GCIB with 2.5 keV and a 1000 Ar cluster size to be 1.0 nA, it was verified that the sputtering is completed in approximately 150 seconds for the three materials.

(30) Referring to FIG. 5, a mass spectrometry method includes step S100 of determining position information of one or more materials included in a sample by irradiating an ion beam to a portion of the sample, and step S200 of analyzing the sample by irradiating an ion beam for sputtering to another portion of the sample and irradiating a laser for ionization of the sample to the other portion of the sample, based on the determined position information. The sputtering and the ionization may be performed alternately in sequential order.

(31) Step S200 of analyzing the sample includes step S210 of performing the sputtering by an ion beam of a first output value for a section in which the materials included in the sample change and performing the sputtering by an ion beam of a second output value for other sections excluding the section, and step S220 of performing the ionization of the sample by a laser of a third output value for an entire section. The first output value may be less than the second output value.

(32) Step S100 of determining the position information may be repeatedly performed a plural number of times, and the position information of the materials included in the sample may be calculated through a mean value of sets of data obtained by determining the position information performed each time.

(33) The section in which the materials included in the sample change may be defined as a range having an error of 5% to 10% in a vertical direction based on a reformed surface formed by different materials included in the sample.

(34) As described above, a mass spectrometry system and method described herein may analyze a sample by sputtering the sample using an ion beam and then ionizing the sample using a laser, and thus minimize the generation of an unnecessary signal in a low-mass area and minimize the damage to the sample.

(35) In addition, the mass spectrometry system and method may first perform a first process that determines position information of materials included in the sample before performing a second process that analyzes the sample, and thus analyze the sample more precisely and effectively and also increase a resolution in mass, depth profile, and imaging analyses of a sample formed of a bio or organic material.

(36) According to example embodiments described herein, a mass spectrometry system and method may minimize the generation of an unnecessary signal in a low-mass area by sputtering a sample using an ion beam and ionizing the sample using a laser, and then analyzing a result therefrom.

(37) According to example embodiments described herein, a mass spectrometry system and method may minimize the damage to a sample by sputtering the sample using an ion beam and ionizing the sample using a laser, and then analyzing a result therefrom.

(38) According to example embodiments described herein, a mass spectrometry system and method may analyze a sample rapidly and effectively by performing a first process that determines position information of materials included in the sample before performing a second process that analyzes the sample.

(39) While this disclosure includes specific examples, it will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art that various changes in form and details may be made in these examples without departing from the spirit and scope of the claims and their equivalents. The examples described herein are to be considered in a descriptive sense only, and not for purposes of limitation. Descriptions of features or aspects in each example are to be considered as being applicable to similar features or aspects in other examples. Suitable results may be achieved if the described techniques are performed in a different order, and/or if components in a described system, architecture, device, or circuit are combined in a different manner, and/or replaced or supplemented by other components or their equivalents.

(40) Therefore, the scope of the disclosure is defined not by the detailed description, but by the claims and their equivalents, and all variations within the scope of the claims and their equivalents are to be construed as being included in the disclosure.