Characterization of Ion Beam Deposited 107Ag Thin Films on Si(111) Surface by means of Rutherford Backscattering Spectroscopy and Reflection High Energy Electron Diffraction

Abstract

The crystalline quality of the 107Ag films on Si(111) surface grown by mass-separated low energy ion beam deposition (IBD) has been studied by means of combined techniques of reflection high energy electron diffraction (RHEED), low energy electron diffraction, and Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy (RBS). Although crystalline quality of the films hardly depends on Ag ion energy in the range of 30-100 eV for RHEED patterns, the RBS-channeling spectra clearly show the difference in the minimum channeling yield Xmin and the increasing rate of the channeling yield dx(z)/dz. The Ag ion energy to obtain a well-crystallized Ag film is found to be 30-50 eV. In addition, it is shown that excellent quality of the Ag films grown at elevated temperature can be obtained by means of IBD.