SECONDARY-NEUTRAL AND SECONDARY-ION MASS-SPECTROMETRY ANALYSIS OF TIN-BASED HARD COATINGS - AN ASSESSMENT OF QUANTIFICATION PROCEDURES

Secondary-neutral mass spectrometry (SNMS) utilizing electron-gas post -ionization and secondary-ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) monitoring MCs( +) ion species (M stands for a sample component) were used to characte rize TiN-based film structures, namely TiCN and TiAlN/TiN. It is shown that for both techniques a quantitative evaluation of the depth-depen dent composition is possible employing relative sensitivity factors. W hile the latter were derived from various standard materials, the corr esponding factor for C/N could be determined from a correlation of the respective intensities in the TiCN specimen and rendered a standard s uperfluous for those elements; this approach was found to work for bot h SNMS and SIMS. The sample compositions determined by these technique s exhibit generally a good agreement with respect to the absolute conc entration values and their depth dependence; a possible exception is t he Ti/N ratio in the TiAlN sample which appears larger in SNMS than in SIMS. The general concepts of quantification using relative sensitivi ty factors and their transferability among different specimens are dis cussed.