SPUTTER DEPOSITION OF MULTILAYERED STRUCTURES FOR USE IN SPUTTER DEPTH PROFILE CALIBRATION

The development of standards and methods for calibration and comparison of depth scales, sputter removal rates and sputter depth profiling by surface analytical techniques (e. g. AES, SIMS, RBS and X-ray absorption) requires well controlled deposition of multilayered structures. The plasma beam-sputter deposition technique was used to produce combinations of multilayered structures, consisting of metal and oxide layers on Si(100) substrates. Ni, Cr, Ag, Ta, Au, Cr//2O//3 and Ta//2O//5 films were combined and produced in three structural designs of standard reference materials (SRMs), to be used for sputter depth profiling calibration, namely, single thin film types, periodically modulated multilayered thin film structures and multilayered 'marker' structures. Tetrode sputtering equipment (SPUTRON II of Balzers) was found to be an appropriate apparatus for the deposition of the chosen materials on the small production scale. Four in situ interchangeable targets were used to make highly reproducible layers, having the required quality and especially minimal layer and inter-layer contamination.