Strain measurements in ultra-thin buried films (< 50 angstrom) with RBS ion channeling

A method has been developed to measure strain in ultra-thin (<50 Angstrom) buried films. The presence of the film leads to a step in the yield of the host crystal in a channeled RES spectrum for off-normal crystal axes. The s ize of this step depends on the Aux distributions in the channel, which in turn depend on the angle psi between the incoming beam and the crystal axis . Two maxima in the step size appear as a function of the angle psi. Monte Carlo (MC) simulations have been used to interpret the experiments. (C) 200 0 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.