Beam Effects in Thin Surface Films and Interfaces

Ion Beam Effects in Thin Surface Films and Interfaces 

BERTOTI and A. TOTH Research Laboratory for Inorganic Chemistry of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest, Hungary 

The widespread application of thin films can be understood for several reasons. First, only small quantities of material are necessary for the enhancement of such physical parameters as hardness, mechanical and adhesive. strength, wear and chemical resistance, etc. Second, optimum property-performance combinations can be achieved which could not be obtained for the substrate bulk material alone. Last, surface films can be prepared in metasiable stales with unusual combinations of properties not achievable in equilibrium bulk-phase materials. 

Thin films can be prepared in crystalline or amorphous states, in single layer or in multilayers, or in multicomponent form. In their applications an enormous range of materials has been used, e.g., metals, intermetallics, oxides, nitrides, carbides, elemental or compound semiconductors, glasses, and inorganic and organic polymers. For their preparation for the various applications, numerous techniques have been and are being developed. 

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