DEPTH PROFILING BY MEANS OF THE COMBINATION OF GLANCING INCIDENCE X-RAY-FLUORESCENCE SPECTROMETRY WITH LOW-ENERGY ION-BEAM ETCHING TECHNIQUE

Experiments using a combination of laterally resolved glancing incidence X-ray fluorescence spectrometry in the vicinity of the critical angle of total reflection and ion beam ramp etching were performed to work out a new technique for depth profiling in solid-state thin films with nanometre resolution. The lateral point-to-point resolution of the total-reflection X-ray-fluorescence (TXRF) spectrometer used was determined as 200 +/- 10 mu m by means of standard samples (Cr bars on Si). At an inclination angle in the range of 10(-4) degrees for the ramp,which has been produced by ion beam etching, the geometrically covered depth is in the range of 1 nm. In order to demonstrate :the potential of the new technique, preliminary results on Cu/Cr multilayers on Si substrate are presented.