Ion beam mixing and sputtering of Kr-irradiated TiN films measured with RBS,RNRA, and PIXE

Thin titanium nitride films of 10–300 nm thickness were irradiated with ⁸⁴Kr ions of 80–700 keV energy and fluences ranging from 10¹⁶ cm² to 2×10¹⁷ cm². Sputter yields (Y=0.4–1.0) and mixing rates (k=0.05–0.5 nm⁴) were determined using the depth profiling methods RBS, RNRA, and PIXE. While the sputter yields agree well with the modified Sigmund theory, the energy dependence of the mixing rates cannot be explained by standard models.