J. Likonen et al., THE ULTIMATE DEPTH RESOLUTION IN SIMS PROFILING - LOW-ENERGY ION-BEAMMIXING OF AU-PT INTERFACE, Nuclear instruments & methods in physics research. Section B, Beam interactions with materials and atoms, 80-1, 1993, pp. 151-155
The ion beam induced mixing of Au/Pt and Pt/Au multilayers in SIMS spu
tter depth profiling with 2.5, 5 and 8 keV Ar+ and Xe+ ions has been s
tudied. The depth resolution varies linearly as the square root of the
bombarding energy and is slightly better for Xe+ than for Ar+ ions. T
he decay lengths of the trailing edge are 12-30 angstrom in Pt and 30-
90 angstrom in Au. Experimental profiles are compared with simulations
based on a model which describes the atomic transport from the initia
l collisional phase to the late thermalized stage. Experimentally obse
rved broadening is predicted by the model. The larger decay lengths in
Au are attributed to more efficient electron-phonon coupling and thus
more rapid quenching of thermal spikes in Pt than in Au.