HIGH-RESOLUTION AUGER DEPTH PROFILING OF MULTILAYER STRUCTURES MO/SI, MO/B4C, NI/C

It is shown that for optimization of Auger depth profiling of the multilayer structures Mo/Si, Mo/B4C, Ni/C with superthin layers it is necessary to reduce the sputtering ion energy to lower than 1 keV. High-resolution Auger depth profiles of multilayers Mo/Si and Mo/B4C with 100% component modulation in adjacent layers, are obtained at an Ar+-ion energy of 0.6-1 keV. These profiles are characterized by different values of depth resolution for light and heavy components in one structure. The value of depth resolution is equal to 1.2-1.5 nm for light components (C, Si) and 2-4 nm for heavy components (Ni, Mo). We explain these differences by the influence of cascade collision anisotropy on the sputtering of multilayers with a large difference of atomic masses in adjacent layers at low ion energies. The possibilities of high-resolution Auger depth profiling are illustrated for the thermal evolution study of multilayers Ni/C.