Due to the sensitivity, the good depth resolution and the great interest in ultra shallow profile, secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) is one of the prime techniques used in the semiconductor industry. Low impact energy beams are required to profile shallow distributions. Since Cs+ beam sputtering can cause morphological artifacts as well as O-2(+) beam does, a detailed study is required to understand development and limiting analytical conditions. In this work we analyzed the effect of low energy Cs+ primary beam incident at 68degrees and 78degrees on different silicon samples. By using atomic force microscopy (AFM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) we underline their reliability and correlate the morphological effects to the SIMS analytical parameters and samples characteristics. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.