NONDESTRUCTIVE DETERMINATION OF THE CONCENTRATION PROFILE IN THE SURFACE-LAYER OF AUCU ALLOY WITH THE USE OF DIRECTIONAL AES AND MONTE-CARLO SIMULATIONS

Ratios of M-2,M-3 VV Auger peak heights of gold and copper for the Au0 .6Cu0.4 alloy expected for particular compositions of two surface atom ic layers and for two incidence angles of the primary electron beam in an RFA spectrometer were calculated with the use of Monte-Carlo compu ter simulation of the process of Auger electron transport to the sampl e surface, including elastic and inelastic scattering of those electro ns. Those ratios were compared with the corresponding ratios obtained experimentally which gave the relative concentration of gold atoms in the first and second atomic layers equal to 0.79 +/- 0.05 and 0.60 +/- 0.20, respectively. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd.