INTRODUCTION

The Ion Microprobe Facility is located in the School of Geosciences, Grant Institute at the University of Edinburgh. The Facility carries out in-house research and provides a service to the earth and environmental science community. It is funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC)

INSTRUMENTATION

The Ion Microprobe employs Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (SIMS) for the chemical analysis of small volumes of material for most isotopes in the periodic table. The Facility have both a Cameca ims-4f and a Cameca 1270. The ims-4f has been upgraded continually and is consequently competitive with the modern Cameca instruments.

The Cameca 1270 was installed in January 2003 and provides better sensitivity and higher precision than the 4f. Dramatic improvements in external repeatability of isotopic ratio measurements for stable isotopes (O, Si, C, S, Li, B...) have been achieved, while the high transmisson of the 1270 at high mass resolution has enabled new areas of geochronology (U/Pb, Th/Pb, Th/U in Zircon, Monazite and Allenite) to be developed.

What's New

• Date 2/11/2011: No evidence of diffusive homogenisation of carbon isotopes in Yakutian diamonds Poster by D.F. Wiggers de Vries et al.
• Date 4/10/2011: NERC's Research Grants Handbook: Section K p352-355 for Facility running and access.
• Date 4/10/2011: NERC's Policy and Processes Manual for Facility running and access.
• Date 12/8/2011: Preparation advice for making Indium mounts
• Date 11/8/2011: Preparation advice for rare samples using an ultrasonic drill
• Date 14/5/2011: NERCs annual report: for the period April 2010 to March 2011
• Date 14/5/2011: Publication Data Base up-dated: Please contact us if we have missed your publication.
• Date 12/5/2011: Approved projects from the IMFC meeting on the 11/5/2011.
• Date 10/5/2011: Coming soon: Multi-sample (4) air lock design for 6f/1270 instruments. A simple, cheap and practical solution.
• Date 11/4/2011: Users Annual Scientific Reports for 2010
• Date 23/3/2011: Burnham & Berry: Zircon as a probe of the oxidising environment of magmas in Scientific Highlights

CONTACT INFORMATION

Additional information about the Ion Microprobe Facility may be obtained via e-mail or contacting

School of Geosciences,
Grant Institute (Earth Science),
University of Edinburgh,
Kings Buildings,
West Mains Road,
Edinburgh.
EH9 3JW
Tel: 0131 650 4850
Fax: 0131 668 3184
e-mail: ionprobe@ed.ac.uk