High-mass heterogeneous cluster formation by ion bombardment of the ternary alloy Au₇Cu₅Al₄

Journal Article · Thu Feb 04 00:00:00 UTC 2016 · Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology. B, Nanotechnology and Microelectronics

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1116/1.4941140 · OSTI ID:1352551

Zinovev, Alexander V. ^[1]; King, Bruce V. ^[2]; Veryovkin, Igor V. ^[1]; Pellin, Michael J. ^[1]

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1. Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
2. Univ. of Newcastle, Callaghan (Australia)

The ternary alloy Au₇Cu₅Al₄ was irradiated with 0.1–10 keV Ar⁺ and the surface composition analyzed using laser sputter neutral mass spectrometry. Ejected clusters containing up to seven atoms, with masses up to 2000 amu, were observed. By monitoring the signals from sputtered clusters, the surface composition of the alloy was seen to change with 100 eV Ar⁺ dose, reaching equilibrium after 10 nm of the surface was eroded, in agreement with TRIDYN simulation and indicating that the changes were due to preferential sputtering of Al and Cu. Ejected gold containing clusters were found to increase markedly in intensity while aluminum containing clusters decreased in intensity as a result of Ar sputtering. Such an effect was most pronounced for low energy (<1 keV) Ar⁺ sputtering and was consistent with TRIDYN simulations of the depth profiling. As a result, the component sputter yields from the ternary alloy were consistent with previous binary alloy measurements but showed greater Cu surface concentrations than expected from TRIDYN simulations.

• Research Organization: Argonne National Laboratory (ANL)
• Sponsoring Organization: Argonne National Laboratory; Materials Sciences and Engineering Division; USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES) (SC-22)
• Grant/Contract Number: AC02-06CH11357
• OSTI ID: 1352551
• Journal Information: Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology. B, Nanotechnology and Microelectronics, Journal Name: Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology. B, Nanotechnology and Microelectronics Journal Issue: 3 Vol. 34; ISSN 2166-2746
• Publisher: American Vacuum Society/AIPCopyright Statement
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English