The new Heavy Ion ERDA set up at iThemba LABS Gauteng : multilayer thin film depth profiling using direct calculation and Monte Carlo simulation codes

Abstract

We report here on the recently built Heavy Ion ERDA set up at iThemba LABS Gauteng; describing a typical application in the study of interfacial reactions in an Al2O3–Ti ceramic–metal multilayer structure annealed in vacuum at 800 C for 2 h. Depth profile extraction was found to be best obtained through combined use of direct calculation and Monte Carlo simulation codes as opposed to using just either of the methods. The obtained profile suggests a case of the Kirkendall effect, whereupon the inter-diffusion between the metal and the ceramic was largely due to the faster diffusion of the metal into the amorphous ceramic than diffusion of the ceramic elements into the metallic layer.