Crater edge profling of Ni/Cr sandwich multilayer thin films by scanning Auger microscopy (sam)

The principle of the technique of crater edge profiling is described as an alternative method to conventional sputter profiling. The predictions for the lateral composition profile assuming a Gaussian intensity distribution of the primary ion beam are tested for a multilayer sandwich structure of Ni/Cr layers of 11.5 nm single layer thicknesses after Ar + ion sputtering through 20 layers and scanning Auger microscopy with a 10 µm diameter electron beam. Due to the small angle of 44.3″ of the slope of the crater formed by ion sputtering, a magnification factor (lateral variation/depth variation) of 5 × 10 3 is obtained.