Light element depth profiling using elastic recoil detection

doi:10.1016/0168-583X(92)96074-9

Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section B: Beam Interactions with Materials and Atoms

Volume 68, Issues 1–4, 2 May 1992, Pages 181-189

https://doi.org/10.1016/0168-583X(92)96074-9 Get rights and content

Abstract

The paper gives a review of the possibilities in elastic recoil detection (ERD) for the determination of the depth distribution of light elements in surface layers. It is written from the point of view of the surface and thin film analyst. It becomes clear that no single one technique in ERD provides an optimum solution for all relevant aspects of surface, thin film and interface analysis.

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Hydrogen detection near surfaces and shallow interfaces with resonant nuclear reaction analysis
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Citation Excerpt :
Elastic recoil detection analysis (ERDA) is an alternative fast and quasi non-destructive method for hydrogen depth profiling that under certain provisions can achieve similar performance in the near-surface region as NRA via 1H(15N,αγ)12C in terms of sensitivity and depth resolution. For detailed descriptions of the ERD technique the interested reader is referred to original publications [51,71,232–239] and comprehensive reviews [193,240–246]. A few essential principles of ERD that may help comprehending the following comparison with resonant 15N NRA are outlined in Appendix B.
This review introduces hydrogen depth profiling by nuclear reaction analysis (NRA) via the resonant ¹H(¹⁵N,αγ)¹²C reaction as a versatile method for the highly depth-resolved observation of hydrogen (H) at solid surfaces and interfaces. The technique is quantitative, non-destructive, and readily applied to a large variety of materials. Its fundamentals, instrumental requirements, advantages and limitations are described in detail, and its main performance benchmarks in terms of depth resolution and sensitivity are compared to those of elastic recoil detection (ERD) as a competing method. The wide range of ¹H(¹⁵N,αγ)¹²C NRA applications in research of hydrogen-related phenomena at surfaces and interfaces is reviewed.
Special emphasis is placed on the powerful combination of ¹H(¹⁵N,αγ)¹²C NRA with surface science techniques of in-situ target preparation and characterization, as the NRA technique is ideally suited to investigate hydrogen interactions with atomically controlled surfaces and intact interfaces. In conjunction with thermal desorption spectroscopy, ¹⁵N NRA can assess the thermal stability of absorbed hydrogen species in different depth locations against diffusion and desorption. Hydrogen diffusion dynamics in the near-surface region, including transitions of hydrogen between the surface and the bulk, and between shallow interfaces of nanostructured thin layer stacks can directly be visualized. As a unique feature of ¹⁵N NRA, the analysis of Doppler-broadened resonance excitation curves allows for the direct measurement of the zero-point vibrational energy of hydrogen atoms adsorbed on single crystal surfaces.
Elastic forward analysis using <sup>7</sup>Li ions: A useful tool for H and light elements determination
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Films of CN_x/Si, TiN_x/AISI 304 and AlO_x/Si were analyzed with $^{7} Li$ ions from 4.0 to 4.5 MeV and an experimental arrangement that, through detection of scattered projectiles and recoils by a single detector, allows quantification of H, light elements and heavier ones. A discussion is presented of the capabilities of Rutherford backscattering spectrometry (RBS) and conventional elastic recoil detection analysis (ERDA) compared to elastic forward analysis.
Ultrathin gate dielectric films for Si-based microelectronic devices
2002, Thin Films
This chapter discusses the application of ultrathin gate dielectric films for Si-based microelectronic devices. Emphasis is placed on the correlation of dielectric quality, physicochemical issues, and processing parameters. Basic requirements of ultrathin dielectric films to be used in microelectronic devices are given. The chapter discusses the film preparation methods followed by electrical and physicochemical methods of characterization of dielectric films. The significance and effects of the hydrogen presence in gate dielectrics are also presented in the chapter. Further, silicon oxide films thermally grown on single-crystalline silicon in dry oxygen are discussed in the chapter. Understanding and simulating modem-processing routes to the formation of gate dielectric films require an understanding of the atomic transport processes responsible for their growth. Atomic transport is the natural way to approach the growth of ultrathin films and is explored in the chapter.
Proton elastic recoil cross sections for 0.6-5.0 MeV <sup>4</sup>He ions
1999, Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research, Section B: Beam Interactions with Materials and Atoms
The cross sections for proton elastic recoil of 0.6–5.0 MeV ⁴He ions have been measured at recoil angles of 10°, 15°, 20°, 25°, 30°, 35° and 40° with the target set for transmission geometry. Thin melamine (C₃H₆N₆) foils (10–25 μg/cm²) were used as the hydrogen target. By bombarding the ⁴He ions normal to the target, backscattered ⁴He ions from nitrogen and recoil protons at forward angles were detected. Hence the proton recoil cross section was determined by normalizing to the scattering cross section of ⁴He ions backscattered from nitrogen to 165° [Y. Feng, Z. Zhou, G. Zhao, F. Yang, Nucl. Instr. and Meth. B 94 (1994) 11]. The measured cross sectional data are reviewed and compared with calculations for the kinematic inverse reaction ⁴He(p,p)⁴He, and with the measured results of the proton recoil cross section reported up to now. In order to simplify the application of these results for ERD analysis, an arbitrary polynomial is derived by fitting the cross sectional data from this study.
The response and calibration of thin Si AE detectors
1999, Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research, Section B: Beam Interactions with Materials and Atoms
The response of thin (∼7 μm) self-supporting Si p-i-n ΔE detectors for light recoils (Z ⩽ 8) has been characterised using a conventional Elastic Recoil Detection (ERD) set-up. In this study, the energy loss of each recoil in the ΔE detector was measured by determining the incident energy from the time of flight and the energy after traversing the ΔE detector using a thick (280 μm) Si p-i-n diode E detector. 40 MeV ³⁵Cl⁷⁺ ions were used to produce recoils of H, Li, Be, B, C, N and O. Correlation of the energy loss in the ΔE detector with the amplitude of the ΔE signals was used to assign calibration constants. Analysis of the variance of the signals from the trend line revealed that the standard deviation of the data perpendicular to the trend line which is not contributed to by energy straggling and multiple scattering, increases with increasing recoil atomic number.
Extremely thin silicon ΔE detectors for ion beam analysis
1998, Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research, Section B: Beam Interactions with Materials and Atoms
Recent developments in silicon nanotechnology have made feasible the fabrication of ΔE detectors with thickness of 1 μm or less. The CHICSi collaboration has been developing thin ΔE detectors for study of reaction products from intermediate energy heavy ion collisions in an ultra high vacuum storage-ring environment. In this paper, we highlight these developments from an ion beam analysis (IBA) viewpoint. The initial part of the paper outlines the characteristics for these detectors for, nuclear reaction analysis (NRA), elastic recoil detection (ERD) using ΔE−E detector telescopes and accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS). Quasi-empirical estimates of the maximum ΔE detector thickness and separating power for the limit of low energy particles (down to 0.1A MeV) reveal that energy straggling is an important limiting factor. Subsequently different methods are presented for fabricating both self-supported and vertically integrated ΔE detectors including recently developed wafer bonding techniques which open up the possibility of producing ΔE−E detector telescopes where the ΔE element is in the hundreds of nm range. Ultimately consideration is given to special requirements for the readout electronics because of the high capacitance presented by the thin ΔE detectors.

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Light element depth profiling using elastic recoil detection

Abstract

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