The Sensitive High Resolution Ion Microprobe (SHRIMP) is a large-diameter, double-focusing secondary ion mass spectrometer (SIMS) sector instrument produced by Australian Scientific Instruments in Canberra, Australia. Like other SIMS instruments, the SHRIMP microprobe bombards a sample under vacuum with a beam of primary ions that sputters secondary ions that are focused, filtered, and measured according to their energy and mass.The SHRIMP is primarily used for geological and geochemical applications. It can measure the isotopic and elemental abundances in minerals at a 30 micrometre-scale and is therefore well-suited for the analysis of complex minerals, as often found in metamorphic terrains, some igneous rocks, and for relatively rapid analysis of statistical valid sets of detrital minerals from sedimentary rocks. The most common application of the instrument is in uranium-thorium-lead geochronology, although the SHRIMP can be used to measure some other isotopic and elemental abundances.