STUDY OF ION-IMPLANTATION PROFILES BY THE PIXE TECHNIQUE

The RES technique is currently used with alpha particles as a non-dest ructive way of studying concentration depth profiles. This technique i s especially convenient in characterizing heavy atom distributions ins ide a matrix of lighter elements, and its use is less convenient in th e case of light elements in a matrix of heavier ones. On the other han d the probing depth is limited by the small range of alpha particles i n the matrix. We present here a new procedure for determining ion impl antation profiles by means of the PIXE technique and by varying the im pinging proton energy. As an example, silicon ions of two energies hav e been implanted into purl titanium samples in order to obtain implant ation profiles with a double peak. The results presented here are in g ood agreement with the calculations using the TRIM code. (C) 1998 Else vier Science B.V.