Chakraborty, B. R. and Halder, S. K. and Maurya, K. K. and Srivastava, A. K. and Toutam, V. K. and Dalai, M. K. and Sehgal, G. and Singh, S. (2012) Evaluation of depth distribution and characterization of nanoscale Ta/Si multilayer thin film structures. Thin Solid Films, 520 (20). pp. 6409-6414. ISSN 0040-6090

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Abstract

A multilayer thin film structure of ten alternate Ta and Si layers with approximately 18 nm thickness for the combined (Ta+Si) layer, was evaluated to explore the individual layer thickness and the interface mixing behavior using different surface characterization techniques like Time-of-Flight Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (TOFSIMS), X-ray Reflectometry (XRR) and Kelvin Probe Force Microscopy (KPFM). These results were compared with measurements performed earlier using cross section Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM). The TOFSIMS depth profile results indicate the individual thickness of Si and Ta layers to be 8.1 nm and 5.9 nm respectively which are less than the corresponding actual thickness measured by cross section TEM as 10.5 nm and 7.5 nm. The difference in thickness measurement has been explained in the light of ion bombardment induced atomic mixing in the interface during sputter depth profiling. A scanning electron micrograph shows the actual crater and its edges created due to the sputtering including the multilayer for real view of the structure. The XRR observations however reveal better agreement with the cross section TEM data, both being non-destructive in nature. Attempts were made to characterize the multilayer using KPFM technique which clearly elucidated the grating type cross section of the structure.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	Copyright for this article belongs to M/s Elsevier.
Subjects:	Materials Science Applied Physics/Condensed Matter
Divisions:	UNSPECIFIED
Depositing User:	Users 27 not found.
Date Deposited:	06 Mar 2020 10:20
Last Modified:	06 Mar 2020 10:20
URI:	http://npl.csircentral.net/id/eprint/3577

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