Surface transient effects in ultralow‐energy Cs+ sputtering of Si

This study examines the dependence of the sputter rate and the transient width (z_tr) as a function of Cs⁺ primary ion energy (impact energy (E_p) = 320 eV, 500 eV and 1 keV) and incident angles between 0 and 70° . The instrument used was the ATOMIKA 4500 SIMS depth profiler and the sample was Si with ten delta layers of Si_0.7 Ge_0.3. We observed the narrowest transient widths of between 1.4 and 2.0 nm apparent depth. This was achieved at incident angles (θ) of 30–50° . An extended transient effect was observed when profiled at θ > 50° . Below this incident angle, the transient width is less than twice the penetration depth (z_tr < 2R_norm). At minimum z_tr, z_tr ≈ R_norm. The detection sensitivity is best achieved at θ ≈ 30° for all energies investigated. The sputter rate is lowest at normal incidence, rising gradually to a maximum at θ ≈ 50–60° . This is similar to that observed with ultralow‐energy O₂⁺ primary ion beams. 1 At ultralow energies, reducing E_p does not have a significant effect in reducing z_tr. We conclude that for E_p < 1 keV, the optimum condition to achieve minimum z_tr while maintaining good sensitivity and high sputter rate is at θ ≈ 30° . Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.