Open AccessIn situ N K ‐edge XANES study of iron, cobalt and nickel nitride thin films
Author(s) -
Pandey Nidhi,
Gupta Mukul,
Phase D. M.,
Gupta Ajay
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
journal of synchrotron radiation
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.172
H-Index - 99
ISSN - 1600-5775
DOI - 10.1107/s1600577521006822
Subject(s) - xanes , thin film , materials science , nitride , x ray absorption spectroscopy , cobalt , nickel , analytical chemistry (journal) , sputtering , absorption (acoustics) , sputter deposition , absorption spectroscopy , metallurgy , layer (electronics) , optics , nanotechnology , chemistry , spectral line , composite material , physics , chromatography , astronomy
A prototype in situ X‐ray absorption near‐edge structure (XANES) system was developed to explore its sensitivity for ultra‐thin films of iron‐nitride (Fe‐N), cobalt‐nitride (Co‐N) and nickel‐nitride (Ni‐N). They were grown using DC‐magnetron sputtering in the presence of an N 2 plasma atmosphere at the experimental station of the soft XAS beamline BL01 (Indus‐2, RRCAT, India). XANES measurements were performed at the N K ‐edge in all three cases. It was found that the N K ‐edge spectral shape and intensity are greatly affected by increasing thickness and appear to be highly sensitive, especially in low‐thickness regions. From a certain thickness of ∼1000 Å, however, samples exhibit a bulk‐like behavior. On the basis of the obtained results, different growth stages were identified. Furthermore, the presence of a molecular N 2 component in the ultra‐thin regime (<100 Å) was also obtained in all three cases studied in this work. In essence, this prototype in situ system reveals that N K ‐edge XANES is a powerful technique for studying ultra‐thin films, and the development of a dedicated in situ system can be effective in probing several phenomena that remain hitherto unexplored in such types of transition metal nitride thin films.