High-resolution depth profiling of soda-lime silicate glass using high-resolution RBS and ERDA

Abstract

Composition depth profiles of soda-lime silicate glasses were measured using high-resolution Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy (HRBS) and high-resolution elastic recoil detection analysis (HERDA). Surface enrichment of modifier cations (Na+ and Ca2+) followed by a depletion in the deeper regions was observed using HRBS. The observed surface enrichment was attributed to the effect of radiation damage caused by the He+ irradiation. It was shown that the precise depth profiling of glass surfaces can be performed using HRBS when the fluence is limited below 3 × 1014 He ions cm−2. HERDA measurements demonstrated that there is a substantial amount of hydrogen (7.3 ± 1.3 × 1021 hydrogen cm−3) in the subsurface region as well as on the surface (1.6 ± 0.2 × 1015 hydrogen cm−2), which is very different from the silica glass surface where no subsurface hydrogen was observed.