Epitaxial processes are increasingly used in semiconductor technology to cope with the requirement of ultra thin layers and ultra shallow junctions. A variety of MBE and CVD tools are used for process development and in production. Monitoring of the processed EPI-wafers is required. SIMS is a method of choice for this task. Quantifiability and even more repeatability delivered by the SIMS tool are of key importance. This paper reports the use of the FEI SIMS 4500 with a special optical conductivity enhancement (OCE) device to monitor a SiGe process in industrial routine. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.