Accurate stopping power determination of 15N ions for hydrogen depth profiling by a combination of ion beams and synchrotron radiation

Abstract

Hydrogen analysis is of particular importance in thin film technology and it is often necessary to obtain a depth profile. The method with the best depth resolution is NRA using the 6385 keV resonance of the 1H( 15N,αγ) 12C nuclear reaction. The correct quantification of the depth and concentration scales in the measured hydrogen profiles relies on accurate stopping power values. We present a method to deduce these values from a combination of two techniques: NRA and X-ray reflectometry (XRR). This method is applied to the determination of the stopping power of ∼6.4 MeV 15N ions in H-containing amorphous Si-layers (a-Si:H). Density-independent stopping powers at different H concentrations are determined by combining the results from NRA and XRR with an overall uncertainty of 3.3%, showing good agreement with SRIM values. This work shows exemplary the methodology for future evaluation of stopping powers for quality assurance in NRA.