Quantitative sputter depth profiling of silicon- and aluminium oxynitride films

Silicon- and aluminium oxynitride films have gained attention because of th eir interesting properties in various fields of technology, The specific pr operties strongly depend on the concentration of oxygen and nitrogen in the films. For the quantitative analysis of homogeneous silicon- and aluminium oxynitride films, EPMA has been proven a very reliable and precise method of analysis. In order to characterise films with graded composition or inte rface effects between the film and the substrate it is necessary to use spu tter depth profiling techniques such as SIMS, hf-SNMS, AES, or hf-GD-OES, U nfortunately, stoichiometric silicon- and aluminium oxynitride films are in sulating and therefore charge compensation has to be applied. For the quantification it was necessary to prepare calibration samples whic h have been analysed by different bulk analytical techniques such as NRA, R ES and EPMA. With these calibration samples, sensitivity factors have been determined and the functional dependence of the sensitivity factors on the composition has been derived. The advantages and disadvantages of the diffe rent sputtering techniques and the applicability of the obtained sensitivit y functions for the quantitative depth profiling of silicon- and aluminium oxynitride films are discussed.