Quantitative auger electron analysis of titanium nitrides

“…Much work has of been undertaken to establish a simple and accurate method for the determination of the composition of TiNx Films. Many techniques, principally Auger Elec tron Spectroscopy (AES), X-ray Photoelectron Spec troscopy (XPS), Rutherford Backscattering Spectros copy (RBS) and Energy Dispersive X-ray Analysis (EDX) have been considered [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8]. None of the techReprint requests to Dr. J. Haupt.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…EDX also has a large escape depth and this, combined with the overlap of the Ti LI and N Ka lines and the low probability of the N Ka emission causes difficulties with quantification. The more surface sensitive electron spectroscopic techniques are normally prefered for thin film analysis, but for TiNx problems of peak overlap and peak fit ting in AES and XPS, respectively, have resulted in many different approaches [1,2,5,6,8]. For XPS, the unusual structure in the Ti 2p region between the Ti 2p1/2 and Ti 2p3/2 lines has been ascribed to satel lite structure or the presence of oxygen which varies as a function of N concentration, causing uncertainties in the peak area measurements [1,[6][7][8].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Determination of the Composition of TiN_x and TiB_xN_y Films by AES

Baker

Haupt

Gissler

1995

Zeitschrift Für Naturforschung A

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Dedicated to Prof. W . Müller-Warmuth on the occasion of his 65 th birthday For the determination of x and y of TiN, and TiB^N coatings two Auger methods are presented, one circumventing and the other minimising the difficulties arising from the overlap of the KL23L23 and L3M23M23 peaks of N and Ti, respectively. The first method, developed for TiNx coatings, is based on the L3M23M45 valence band peak of Ti which develops a distinct second peak on nitridation, 3.9 eV below the main peak, labelled the L3M23Hybrid peak. After a simple Shirley background correction, a linear dependence of the L3M23Hybrid/L3M23M45 peak height ratio on the N/Ti ratio was found. This allows the determination of the N content of a TiNx compound. For TiBxNy coatings, a more complex shape of the L3M23M45 peak is obtained due to the presence of more than one phase, rendering this peak unusable for quantification. Therefore the N/Ti ratio is obtained from the L3M23M23/L3M23M4, peak intensity ratio for Ti. To minimise influences of the fine structure and improve the accuracy of the method, the negative peak excursions were artificially broadened. The N/Ti ratio so obtained is used in combination with the B concentration determined from the KL23L23 peak of B to yield the Ti-B-N composition.

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“…Several quanti-fication schemes have been proposed to derive the N component from the overlapping transitions at Ϸ385 eV using the Ti Auger emission peak height at Ϸ418 eV. 14,15 The analysis result using the approach proposed by Dawson and Tzatzov 15 indicates that our TiN films are nearly stoichiometric.…”

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confidence: 98%

“…Quantitative chemical analysis of titanium nitrides by AES is complicated by the fact that the main KL 23 L 23 Auger electron emission from nitrogen occurs at an energy that overlaps the L 3 M 23 M 23 transition from titanium at Ϸ385 eV. 14,15 Since there are no N Auger transitions above 400 eV, the Auger emission at Ϸ418 eV arises solely from the Ti L 3 M 23 M 45 transition. Therefore, this transition can represent the Ti intensity and chemical fingerprinting for titanium nitride.…”

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confidence: 99%