Static secondary ion mass spectroscopy (SSIMS) analysis of the mica surface

Static secondary ion mass spectroscopy (SSIMS) has been used to analyse the known (001) surface structure of muscovite mica, where the surface was obtained by cleavage in UHV. The spectra, which contained information from the cleavage, tetrahedral and octahedral layers of muscovite, showed no evidence of structural of compositional changes induced by primary ion impact (i.e. first-order effects). The relative yields of the major Si and Al oxide groupings in the spectra were similar to those obtained from the elemental oxidised surfaces.