DEPTH PROFILES OF C, N AND O ON CARBON-COATED STEEL SURFACES MADE BY IBAD

The nitrogen ion implantation into steel surfaces by using an oil diff usion vacuum pumping system is superimposed with an ion beam assisted deposition process of a very thin carbon layer. The application of Bra gg-curve spectroscopy to elastic recoil detection analysis (ERDA) of i on beam assisted deposited carbon layers on steel surfaces is describe d. The ERDA is used for simultaneous depth profiling of the light elem ents carbon, nitrogen and oxygen. Typical results are good selectivity of the atomic charge number Z up to 20 with a depth resolution on the order of 5 to 10 nm and submonolayer sensitivity. The low background in the operative region allows the analysis of profiles down to concen trations of about 0.01% of the stoichiometric ones. The ERDA depth pro filing results are shown in correlation to measurements with Auger ele ctron spectroscopy (AES).