Ion beam analysis: A century of exploiting the electronic and nuclear structure of the atom for materials characterisation

Abstract

Analysis using MeV ion beams is a thin film characterisation technique invented some 50 years ago which has recently had the benefit of a number of important advances. This review will cover damage profiling in crystals including studies of defects in semiconductors, surface studies, and depth profiling with sputtering. But it will concentrate on thin film depth profiling using Rutherford backscattering, particle induced X-ray emission and related techniques in the deliberately synergistic way that has only recently become possible. In this review of these new developments, we will show how this integrated approach, which we might call “total IBA”, has given the technique great analytical power.