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SIMS (Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry) analysis parses depth profile data from Excel files, extracting concentration-vs-depth curves for each detected ionic species. The pipeline automatically identifies depth and species columns, detects measurement units from column headers, and produces aligned depth profile arrays.

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Overview

The SIMS pipeline processes data in three stages:
  1. Sheet detection: locates the correct worksheet in the uploaded Excel file by looking for a “Processed data” sheet or falling back to the first sheet with numeric data
  2. Column identification: pattern-based matching separates the depth column from species concentration columns, and detects units from the column headers
  3. Data extraction: produces aligned depth and concentration arrays for each species, with metadata recording the species detected and units used

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Key Metrics

MetricWhat It Tells You
DepthSputter depth or time into the sample. Reported in nm, um, or seconds depending on the measurement.
ConcentrationElemental abundance at each depth point. Units depend on the instrument output: at/cm³, at%, or wt%.
SpeciesThe ionic species detected in the measurement. Each species produces a separate depth-concentration profile.

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Adding Data

Upload Excel files (.xls or .xlsx) containing depth profile data through the data page. Processing starts automatically once the upload completes.The pipeline expects a worksheet with a depth column and one or more numeric columns for species concentrations. Column headers should include unit information (e.g., “Depth (nm)”, “Si (at/cm³)”) for automatic unit detection.

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Viewing Results

Once processing completes, the workspace displays depth profiles with concentration plotted against depth. Each detected species appears as a separate series on the chart, allowing you to compare elemental distributions across the sample cross-section.
If the automatic unit detection picks the wrong units, you can override depth and concentration units by specifying them in the pipeline inputs before re-running analysis.