A focused gallium scanning ion probe is used, in conjunction with an efficient secondary ion mass spectrometry system, to obtain high lateral resolution mass‐resolved images of specimen surfaces. The Ga+beam, extracted from a liquid metal ion source, is accelerated to 40 keV and focused to a spot with a minimum diameter of ∼20 nm (ultimate resolution). The secondary ion handling system is briefly discussed; the secondary ion detection efficiency is 0.2%. Applications relevant to integrated circuit inspection and evaluation are presented, including high signal statistics elemental images of the metallizations and substrate of submicrometer devices, and examples of the detection of circuit flaws.