Nondestructive depth profiling by specimen tilting using scanning electronmicroscope-energy dispersive X-ray spectrometer

In order to perform nondestructive depth profiling, glancing incidence meth od has been attempted by specimen tilting using a scanning electron a scann ing electron microscope-energy dispersive X-ray spectrometer. Two-dimension al (2D) compositional mapping was carried out using double/triple-layered s pecimens at various tilt angles, namely glancing incidence angles. It was c onfirmed that the visibility of the compositional map clearly varied depend ing on the incidence angle and the depth distribution. The X-ray intensity dependence on the incidence angle at each observation point is obtained fro m a series of compositional maps and that enables qualitative 2D depth prof iling of spatial resolution in the micrometer range and depth resolution of a few tens of nm.