SIMS Analysis of Copper-Nickel Thin Films Alloys

Abstract

The article presents the results of studying the elemental and isotopic composition of CuNi alloy films by the method of secondary ion mass spectrometric analysis (MS-7201M secondary ion mass spectrometer). Films of alloys with a thickness of up to 130 nm were obtained on polished glass substrates with a pre-applied Al buffer layer by simultaneous separate evaporation of the components in a vacuum of 10-4 Pa. Copper was evaporated from a strip of tungsten foil with a thickness of 0.05 mm. Nickel was evaporated by the electron-beam method using an electron diode gun. The rate of condensation was 0.5-1.5 nm/s. The purity of evaporated metals was at least 99.98%. Ar+ ions with an energy of 5 keV were used as probing primary ions. The results of qualitative mass spectrometric analysis of secondary ions indicate the high purity of the films (absence of hydrides, oxides and carbides of Cu and Ni). The elemental composition of the films is represented by isotopes Ni58, Ni60 and Cu63, Cu65. The ratios of isotopic intensities are and , which corresponds to the natural distribution of nickel and copper isotopes. The ratio of isotopic intensities practically does not change over the entire thickness of the sample. It was shown that the quantitative analysis of the elemental composition of film alloys can also be carried out by the method of secondary ion mass spectrometry.