Depth Profiling : Fundamental Aspects and Recent Progress

抄録

Depth profiling by sputteirng in combination with surface analysis has become a most effective way to determine the depth distribution of composition in thin films. The principles of the method and its fundamental capabilities and limitations are briefly discussed. Various phenomena, the most important of which are due to ion beam induced changes of surface roughness and composition, limit the experimentally achievable depth resolution. Recent progress in studying the influence of sample characteristics and experimental parameters like ion beam energy and incidence angle as well as sample rotation on depth resolution and its dependence on the sputtered depth serves as a guideline for optimized profiling conditions. With these, even for metallic samples and sputtered depths approaching micrometer dimension, a depth resolution of a few nanometers can be obtained. Knowledge of the depth resolution function allows deconvolution of a measured, normalized profile in order to obtain the true depth distribution of composition.