The ion microprobe is located on one of the experimental beamlines (45 degrees) of the RBI accelerator system. It consists of focusing quadrupole magnets, which can operate as a doublet, triplet, or quintuplet depending on the application, and a scattering chamber. The microprobe can utilize ion beams from either of the two tandem accelerators.

In the high-current mode (1 pA to 1 nA), the ion microprobe is used for spectroscopic techniques such as PIXE, RBS, and ERDA:

PIXE (Particle-Induced X-ray Emission) typically uses proton beams of 2–3 MeV focused to approximately 1 micrometer, enabling quantitative elemental analysis of microscopically small samples, as well as mapping of elemental distributions through the detection of characteristic X-rays from all elements heavier than sodium (Z > 11).

RBS (Rutherford Backscattering Spectrometry) is used for depth profiling of elements heavier than the incident beam. For example, when using a helium beam, all elements heavier than lithium can be analyzed. Since the method is sensitive to depth distribution, scanning a focused beam also allows for 3D mapping of elemental distributions.

ERDA (Elastic Recoil Detection Analysis) employs beams of heavier ions to analyze light atoms recoiled from the sample surface. It is particularly useful in the ion microprobe for the detection and quantification of hydrogen.

In the low-current mode (fA range), the ion microprobe is used for techniques based on the interaction of single ions with the target material. In this mode, the beam focus is significantly better than 1 micrometer. The techniques include:

IBIC (Ion Beam Induced Charge) for measuring and imaging charge transport properties in semiconductors.

STIM (Scanning Transmission Ion Microscopy) for mapping thickness (or density) distributions within samples.

TOF MeV SIMS (Time-of-Flight MeV Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry) for determining the molecular composition of sample surfaces using impacts of heavy ions in the MeV energy range.