Ion beam analysis of sputter-deposited gold films for quartz resonators

Sputter deposition using a focused ion beam has been investigated as an alt ernative to magnetron sputtering for the deposition of thin-film gold elect rodes onto quartz resonators. One potential concern is the inclusion of arg on in the growing film when argon ions are used for sputtering. Argon reten tion in sputter-deposited gold films using an 11.5 keV argon ion beam was i nvestigated with Rutherford backscattering spectrometry and it was found th at in layers deposited at close to normal ejection angles the argon trappin g was at the level of less than or equal to 1 at,%, similar to magnetron-de posited layers, whereas argon incorporation increased with the ejection ang le up to several per cent at large angles. Copyright (C) 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.