C-60 ion beams are being used in a widening variety of analytical applications. The interaction of the C60 molecule with most sample surfaces differs markedly from that of an atomic ion beam, leading to elevated sputter yields and ion yields. A further important consequence of C-60 bombardment is very low residual damage after sputtering of surface layers. We have developed a range of C-60 ion beam systems for use in static SIMS, dynamic SIMS, SIMS imaging, including intracellular imaging of biological compounds, and in surface cleaning and depth profiling in electron spectroscopy. We describe the design criteria for the C-60 range and illustrate the performance of these systems with recent applications data. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.