SPUTTERING YIELDS OF THIN OVERLAYER FILMS BY ATTENUATION OF THE SUBSTRATE AUGER-ELECTRON SIGNAL

The sputtering yield S of the first oxide layers of 304 stainless steel has been measured by monitoring the bulk MVV 48 eV Auger electron intensity of elemental iron during ion etching. For comparison the same procedure has been applied to a gold layer of thickness 65 Å on a copper substrate for 920 eV copper Auger electrons. Assuming literature values of the mean free path, the experimental S values for stainless steel and gold under 6 keV Ar+ ion bombardment with a 30° angle of incidence are 1 and 7 respectively. The same technique gives information about overlayer film continuity and non-uniformity. © 1979.