ESTIMATION OF THE DEPTH RESOLUTION OF SECONDARY-ION MASS-SPECTROMETRYAT THE INTERFACE SIO2 SI/

Similarities between the processes that occur during sputtering of mon ocrystalline Si by reactive O-2(+) primary ions and the interface SiO2 /monocrystalline Si by noble gas ions (e.g., by Ar+) have motivated us to utilize the semiempirical model of P. C. Zalm and C. J. Vriezema [ Nucl. Instrum. Methods B 67, 495 (1992)], modified later by M. Petravi c, B. G. Svensson, and J. S. Williams [Appl. Phys. Lett, 62, 278 (1993 )] to calculate the decay length lambda(b), as defined by J. B. Clegg [Surf. Interface Anal. 10, 322 (1987)], at the SiO2/Si interface. The measured and calculated results agree remarkably well. Inconsistency o bserved to be larger than 100% for glancing incidence angles confirms limitations of this model that were admitted already by its authors. ( C) 1995 American Institute of Physics.