SIMS depth profile analysis of wear resistant coatings on cutting tools and technical components

For quantitative depth profile analysis of hard and wear resistant coatings (general composition, metal-C:N:O:H:Ar) by secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) the use of Cs' primary ions in conjunction with the detection of MC s+ (M: element of interest) molecular ions is proposed. As compared with Ru therford backscatterring spectrometry (RBS)/elastic recoil detection (ERD), the accuracy of MCs+-SIMS is about +/- 10%, irrespective of oxygen concent rations up to 20 at.%. A depth resolution of Deltaz similar to 30 nm at a d epth of z = 2.5 mum is demonstrated on curved (radius 2 mm) surfaces of pol ished (R-a similar to 0.005 mum) steel. On rough surfaces (R-a > 0.1 mum) t he depth resolution significantly degrades (Deltaz = 120 nm at z = 2.5 pm) due to effects of shadowing and redeposition. This limits detailed and quan titative studies of interlayers and interfaces. Examples are given for loca l depth profile analysis on technical components under difficult conditions of surface geometry and topography. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rig hts reserved.