Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry Imaging of Tissues, Cells, and Microbial Systems

Secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) is a technique capable of imaging tissues, single cells, and microbes revealing chemical species with sub-micrometer spatial resolution. The recently developed Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance (FTICR) SIMS instrument provides high mass resolving power and mass accuracy, ToF-SIMS can generate chemical maps with an order of magnitude better lateral resolution than the FTICR-SIMS, and the NanoSIMS instrument offers sub-100 nm spatial resolution in chemical imaging. Many commercial ToF-SIMS instruments are also capable of depth profiling that allows three-dimensional reconstructions of cell and tissue structure.