The Influence of Ion Bombardment on the Results of AES-Depth Profiling on Silicides

The determination of quantitative concentration ratios of silicides with AES-depth profiling leads to results which are influenced by a strong sputter effect. We have investigated aspects of this problem by experiments on silicide-silicon systems. During sputtering two essential effects appear simultaneously, namely preferential sputtering and the knock-on effect [1,2]. In the literature preferential sputtering is regarded as the main effect [1,3–7]. However the knock-on effect can also influence concentration ratios [1,8,9]. I am reporting about investigations on the knock-on effect.