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Atomic mixing, surface roughness and information depth in high‐resolution AES depth profiling of a GaAs/AlAs superlattice structure
Author(s) -
Hofmann Siegfried
Publication year - 1994
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.740210912
Subject(s) - superlattice , surface finish , surface roughness , materials science , optics , profiling (computer programming) , optoelectronics , physics , metallurgy , composite material , computer science , operating system
High‐resolution AES depth profiling of a GaAs/AlAs superlattice structure with 8.8/9.9 nm single‐layer thickness by sputtering with 1.0 keV and 0.6 keV Ar + ions at an incidence angle of 80° resulted in optimum depth resolution values for 0.6 keV Ar + ions of Δ z = 2.0 nm for the low‐energy Al (68 eV) intensity profile and of Δ z = 2.0 nm for the high‐energy Al (1396 eV) intensity profile. A simple model description of the influence of atomic mixing ( w ), surface roughness (σ) and Auger electron escape depth (λ) was applied to calculate the measured profiles. An excellent fit is obtained by a reasonable set of these parameters: for 0.6 keV Ar + ion sputtering, w = 1.0 nm, σ = 0.6 nm, λ (Al 68 eV) = 0.4 nm and λ (Al 1396 eV) = 1.7 nm.