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Surface compositional changes of InP due to krypton ion bombardment
Author(s) -
Malherbe J. B.,
van der Berg N. G.
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.7402201115
Subject(s) - sputtering , krypton , ion , auger electron spectroscopy , chemistry , analytical chemistry (journal) , atomic physics , yield (engineering) , angle of incidence (optics) , indium , materials science , xenon , thin film , optics , physics , organic chemistry , chromatography , nuclear physics , nanotechnology , metallurgy
Sputtering of the (110) and (100) surfaces of InP by Kr + ions resulted in a preferential loss of the phosphorus species leaving an In‐enriched surface. The equilibrium Kr + ‐sputtered surface composition of InP was determined by means of Auger electron spectroscopy. The sputtered surface composition ratio was independent of crystal orientation and ion energy (between 0.5 and 5 keV). Owing to a lack of other experimental krypton sputtering data, the experimentally obtained surface composition ratios were compared to the Sigmund theory for preferential sputtering in the linear cascade regime. A comparison with the Sigmund spike model showed the absence of spike effects in this krypton ion energy regime. A reasonable agreement was obtained between the experimental results and the Sigmund predictions. There was a correlation between the angle of incidence of the bombarding Kr + ions and the final surface composition: The preferential sputtering effect became less with increasing angle of incidence θ i (measured from the surface normal). The results show that the ratio of the phosphorus to indium compositions, namely X P s / X In s∝ (cos θ i ) − a with a ≃ 0.24, and where θ i is the angle of incidence of the ion beam with respect to the sample normal. This result is explained in terms of a model using the angle dependence of the sputtering yield of the constituent elements.