Speaker
Level for award<br> (Hons, MSc, <br> PhD)?
MSc
Main supervisor (name and email)<br>and his / her institution
Dr Mandla Msimanga, mandla@tlabs.ac.za and iThemba LABS (Gauteng)& Tshwane University of Technology
Would you like to <br> submit a short paper <br> for the Conference <br> Proceedings (Yes / No)?
No
Apply to be<br> considered for a student <br> award (Yes / No)?
No
Abstract content <br> (Max 300 words)<br><a href="http://events.saip.org.za/getFile.py/access?resId=0&materialId=0&confId=34" target="_blank">Formatting &<br>Special chars</a>
Heavy Ion Elastic Recoil Detection (Heavy Ion-ERD) analysis is now an established thin film depth profiling analysis technique. But it is not without artefacts.The main aim of this study is to investigate the effects of the probing beam on the structure (i.e. thickness, atomic composition, crystallinity, roughness) of metallic thin films after Heavy Ion ERD analysis using 26 MeV Cu7+ beams. Heavy Ion ERD analysis was carried out to determine the thickness and the depth profile of ZrN and NbN thin films prepared through RF magnetron sputtering deposition on silicon substrates. The structural characterization of these thin films was carried out before and after Heavy Ion ERD analysis to check for beam effects on the films. Possible beam damage on the surface of these thin films was assessed by various techniques such as; Rutherford Backscattering Spectrometry (RBS) which was used to determine (any) changes in film thickness and composition, Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) used to obtain the surface roughness and morphology of the thin films and X-ray diffraction (XRD) used to determine the crystallinity and the residual stress. This presentation discusses findings made from the measurement results.
