Sputtered ions

Ion-beam lithography Ion beam mixing Ion beam processing Ion beams Ion-beam sputtering Ion channels Ion chromatogram Ion chromatography... 

Fig. 5. Plots of pump-down performance for pumps operating on 0.1-m-dia x 0.43-m-long stainless-steel tubing. Curves 1—4 are sputter-ion pumps of different makes curve 5 is Orbitron type and curve 6, LN-trapped oil DP. Pressure is measured using Bayard-Alpert gauge (BAG) (26). To convert Pa to...

Sputtered Neutral Mass Spectrometry (SNMS) is the mass spectrometric analysis of sputtered atoms ejected from a solid surface by energetic ion bombardment. The sputtered atoms are ionized for mass spectrometric analysis by a mechanism separate from the sputtering atomization. As such, SNMS is complementary to Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (SIMS), which is the mass spectrometric analysis of sputtered ions, as distinct from sputtered atoms. The forte of SNMS analysis, compared to SIMS, is the accurate measurement of concentration depth profiles through chemically complex thin-film structures, including interfaces, with excellent depth resolution and to trace concentration levels. Genetically both SALI and GDMS are specific examples of SNMS. In this article we concentrate on post ionization only by electron impact. 

The atom flux sputtered from a solid surface under energetic ion bombardment provides a representative sampling of the solid. Sputtered neutral mass spectrometry has been developed as method to quantitatively measure the composition of this atom flux and thus the composition of the sputtered material. The measurement of ionized sputtered neutrals has been a significant improvement over the use of sputtered ions as a measure of flux composition (the process called SIMS), since sputtered ion yields are seriously affected by matrix composition. Neutral panicles are ionized by a separate process after sputter atomization, and SNMS quantitation is thus independent of the matrix. Also, since the sputtering and ionization processes are separate, an ionization process can be selected that provides relatively uniform yields for essentially all elements. 

It is important for quantitative SNMS that the fractions of element x forming molecules and sputtered ions be negligible, but such is not always the case. 

For the detection of sputtered ions, the transmission T (X ) of the mass spectrometer and the detection probability D (X ) must be taken into account. Their product gives... 

A versatile Laser-SNMS instrument consists of a versatile microfocus ion gun, a sputtering ion gun, a liquid metal ion gun, a pulsed flood electron gun, a resonant laser system consisting of a pulsed Nd YAG laser pumping two dye lasers, a non-resonant laser system consisting of a high-power excimer or Nd YAG laser, a computer-controlled high-resolution sample manipulator on which samples can be cooled or heated, a video and electron imaging system, a vacuum lock for sample introduction, and a TOF mass spectrometer. 

Such vessels can also be baked at a temperature of several hundred degrees, to drive off any gas adsorbed on metal surfaces. The pumping function of an ion gauge was developed into efficient ionic pumps and turbomolecular pumps , supplemented by low-temperature traps and cryopumps. Finally, sputter-ion pumps, which rely on sorption processes initiated by ionised gas, were introduced. A vacuum of 10 "-10 Torr, true UHV, became routinely accessible in the late 1950s, and surface science could be launched. 

The surface structures of ionic liquids have been studied by direct recoil spectrometry. In this experiment, a pulsed beam of 2-3 keV inert gas ions is scattered from a liquid surface, and the energies and intensities of the scattered and sputtered (recoiled) ions are measured as a function of the incident angle, a, of the ions. Figure 4.1-16 shows a scheme of the process for both the scattered and sputtered ions. 

The incident ions cause recoil in the surface atoms. In studies of ionic liquids, only direct recoil - that is, motion in the forward direction - was measured. Watson and co-workers [56, 57] used time-of-flight analysis with a pulsed ion beam to measure the kinetic energies of the scattered and sputtered ions and therefore determine the masses of the recoiled surface atoms. By relating the measured intensities of the... 

Keywords dielectric coatings, metallic coatings, deposition, ion beam sputtering, ion as-... 

Considerable effort has been expended on Ag atoms and small, silver clusters. Bates and Gruen (10) studied the spectra of sputtered silver atoms (a metal target was bombarded with a beam of 2-keV, argon ions produced with a sputter ion-gun) isolated in D, Ne, and N2. They found that an inverse relationship between Zett of the metal atom and the polarizability of rare-gas matrices (as determined from examination of... 

TOF-SIMS can be applied to identify a variety of molecular fragments, originating from various molecular surface contaminations. It also can be used to determine metal trace concentrations at the surface. The use of an additional high current sputter ion source allows the fast erosion of the sample. By continuously probing the surface composition at the actual crater bottom by the analytical primary ion beam, multi element depth profiles in well defined surface areas can be determined. TOF-SIMS has become an indispensable analytical technique in modem microelectronics, in particular for elemental and molecular surface mapping and for multielement shallow depth profiling. 

Starting from a stoichiometric, well-ordered MgCl2 film, an increasing dosage of sputtered ions leads to increasing background intensity of the LEED picture, which finally results in a complete loss of all diffraction spots [108]. Even though the process removes material from the surface, the surface... 

Sputter-Ion Depth Profiling. Although it is essentially a destructive technique, SIMS depth profiling is rapid, and possesses parts per million or even parts per billion sensitivity to all elements and isotopes, coupled with a depth resolution of a few nanometres. Concentration-depth plots can be accurate to 5%. 

Static SIMS is appropriate for obtaining information on the lateral distribution of surface chemical species. A broad, defocussed ion beam is often used in order to minimise surface damage. In dynamic SIMS sample erosion takes place quite rapidly, and depth profiles are obtained by monitoring peak intensities in the mass spectrum of sputtered ions as bombardment proceeds. 

The impact of an ion beam on the electrode surface can result in the transfer of the kinetic energy of the ions to the surface atoms and their release into the vacuum as a wide range of species—atoms, molecules, ions, atomic aggregates (clusters), and molecular fragments. This is the effect of ion sputtering. The SIMS secondary ion mass spectrometry) method deals with the mass spectrometry of sputtered ions. The SIMS method has high analytical sensitivity and, in contrast to other methods of surface analysis, permits a study of isotopes. In materials science, the SIMS method is the third most often used method of surface analysis (after AES and XPS) it has so far been used only rarely in electrochemistry. 

A potentially more serious problem may be encountered due to isotopic fractionation at the sputter ion source itself. Some... 

The measurements that have been made at Rochester and the experience that has been gathered over the years on the operation of sputter ion sources [38] indicate that an analytical tool of unprecedented sensitivity and accuracy for isotopic ratio determinations can be constructed by coupling SIMS technology with the new accelerator technique. The only difference in principle between the experiments that have been conducted to date and the technique as it would be applied in secondary ion mass spectrometry is that the primary beam of cesium would be focussed to a fine probe of pm dimensions rather than the spot diameters of approximately 1 mm that have been used to date. 

We have recently commissioned a new reflected beam Cs sputter source [6] to be used in these experiments. This source is better suited to this work than the old non-reflecting source, as the Cs beam is focussed to sputter ions off a very small pill or plug of material. This gives an ion beam with good optical properties (since the source spot size is small) and allows the use of very small samples. We are currently working with samples of 1-5 mg of BeO or graphite. 

The fact that LEIS provides quantitative information on the outer layer composition of multi-component materials makes this technique an extremely powerful tool for the characterization of catalysts. Figure 4.19 shows the LEIS spectrum of an alumina-supported copper catalyst, taken with an incident beam of 3 keV 4He+ ions. Peaks due to Cu, A1 and O and a fluorine impurity are readily recognized. The high intensity between about 40 and 250 eV is due to secondary (sputtered) ions. The fact that this peak starts at about 40 eV indicates that the sample has charged positively. Of course, the energy scale needs to be corrected for this charge shift before kinematic factors Ef/E-, are determined. 

Figure 4.19 The LEIS spectrum of a Cu/Al203 catalyst illustrates that ions lose more energy in collisions with light elements than with heavy elements. Note the step in the background at the low kinetic energy side of the peaks. The high peak at low energy is due to sputtered ions. The low energy cut-off of about 40 eV is indicative of a positively charged sample (courtesy of J.P. Jacobs and H.H. Bron-gersma, Eindhoven).

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