A high-resolution electrostatic spectrometer for the investigation of near-surface layers in solids by high-resolution Rutherford backscattering with MeV ions

Abstract

Abstract The paper reports on a high-resolution electrostatic spectrometer for MeV ions and its use for investigating surfaces and near-surface layers of solids by high-resolution Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy (HRBS). The spectrometer has been set up at the 6 MV Pelletron accelerator of the Max-Planck-Institut fur Metallforschung, Stuttgart, over the last few years and has recently been operated successfully. The instrument consists of a cylinder type, 100° electrostatic analyzer (radius: 700 mm, gap width: 20 mm) and a system of electrostatic quadrupole lenses which focus those ions emitted from the target parallel to the optical axis onto the entrance slit of the analyzer, thus minimizing kinematic errors in the energy resolution. A variable slit system allows one to choose between a maximum in energy resolution or in ion count rate. The analyzed ions are registered simultaneously with a position sensitive Si-surface barrier detector. The maximum ion energy to be analyzed is about 2 MeV for singly charged ions. The relative energy resolution of the instrument is better than 3 × 10−4. The overall resolution as obtained in an actual HRBS measurement with 1 MeV 4He+ ions amounts to 1.44 keV, thus providing a depth resolution of 0.88 nm at ion incidence of 22.5° to the surface normal or 0.17 nm for oblique incidence of the ion beam (10° to the normal) in Au. Besides the description of the spectrometer and its capabilities, this paper will give examples of various applications. They include studies of the oxidation of metal surfaces, of island formation on surfaces, and of electron capture processes of fast ions in the near surface region.