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Backscattered electrons from gold surface films deposited on silicon substrates: a joint experimental and computational investigation to add new potentiality to electron microscopy
Author(s) -
Dapor Maurizio,
Bazzanella Nicola,
Toniutti Laura,
Miotello Antonio,
Crivellari Michele,
Gialanella Stefano
Publication year - 2013
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/sia.5144
Subject(s) - scanning electron microscope , silicon , materials science , electron , thin film , monte carlo method , range (aeronautics) , optics , nanotechnology , optoelectronics , physics , composite material , nuclear physics , statistics , mathematics
This paper addresses the problem of the thickness determination of thin gold overlayers deposited on silicon bulk substrates by looking at the electron backscattering coefficient involved in scanning electron microscopy (SEM). A Monte Carlo code, used to calculate the backscattering coefficient, together with a simple experimental setup, which uses a conventional SEM, allow to determine thin film thickness (in the range 25–200 nm) with an estimated accuracy of 20%. This adds obviously new potentiality to SEM. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.