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Study of Low‐energy Atomic Mixing by Means of Auger Depth Profiling, XTEM and TRIM Simulation on Ge/Si Multilayer System
Author(s) -
Barna A.,
Menyhard M.
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
surface and interface analysis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.52
H-Index - 90
eISSN - 1096-9918
pISSN - 0142-2421
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1096-9918(199607)24:7<476::aid-sia138>3.0.co;2-f
Subject(s) - auger , sputtering , ion , trim , materials science , etching (microfabrication) , perpendicular , atomic physics , mixing (physics) , chemistry , molecular physics , analytical chemistry (journal) , thin film , layer (electronics) , nanotechnology , geometry , physics , organic chemistry , quantum mechanics , chromatography , computer science , operating system , mathematics
Low‐energy atomic mixing is experimentally studied on a Ge/Si amorphous multilayer system by means of Auger depth profiling and XTEM. The ion etching was performed by using Ar ions of energy 500 eV (XTEM) and 618 eV (Auger) and angle of incidence >84° and the specimen was rotated during sputtering. Applying these conditions it is believed that the interface broadening occurs mainly because of atomic mixing because the surface roughening is negligible. The Auger depth profile was carried out on a specimen containing Ge/Si strips parallel to the surface. The extent of the atomic mixing was determined by comparing the depth profile to profiles provided by dynamic TRIM simulation. For ion milling another geometry was used; the Ge/Si strips were perpendicular to the surface. A very thin (2 nm) TEM specimen was prepared and the thickness of the completely mixed region could be directly estimated from the TEM image: 1 nm at 500 eV ion energy and 85° angle of incidence. The TEM image also shows that the atomic mixed region is asymmetric.