Insitu chemical analysis in thin film production using soft x‐ray emission spectroscopy

A feasibility study has been made on the use of soft x‐ray emission spectroscopy for in situ characterization and on line production monitoring of thin films. Thin films of Ti, TiN, and TiO2 were produced by reactive magnetron sputtering under various conditions. During or directly after deposition the films were subjected to spectral analysis of soft x‐ray emission in the 380–550 eV range with the use of a grazing incidence instrument. The experiments showed that, even with a general purpose instrument, it is possible to obtain spectra with sufficient quality to reveal details about the chemical state of the constituents in less than 30 s. The sensitivity of the method allows control of the stoichiometry of the film as well as detection of small amounts of impurities of, e.g., oxygen in TiN.