Depth Analysis of Ta/NiFe/Ta/CoFeB/Ta/NiFe Multilayer Thin Films: Comparison of Atom Probe Tomography and Auger Electron Spectroscopy

Laser-assisted atom probe tomography (APT) and Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) were applied to examine the elemental distributions in Ta/NiFe/Ta/CoFeB/Ta/NiFe multilayer thin films. The impact of APT analysis direction on the elemental distributions of atoms which evaporate at high field could be seen. In particular, B atoms appeared deeper within the CoFeB layer along the analysis direction in APT due to its artifact. On the other hand, B atoms were homogeneously distributed in CoFeB layer with AES analysis.