Depth profiling of hydrogen in thin films with the elastic recoil detection technique

Abstract An elastic recoil detection technique for depth profiling of hydrogen in thin films is described. 4 He ions with an energy of 2.1 MeV are incident on the target which is tilted at an angle of 75°. Energy analysis of H forward-scattered by the incident 4 He ions yields a depth resolution of ⩽500 A near the surface regions and a sensitivity of better than 0.1 at.% for H to depths of ⩽0.5 μmin solids This method has been used for depth profiling of hydrogen in plasma-deposited a-Si : H and silicon nitride films with combined Rutherford backscattering and 16 O(d, p) 17 O nuclear reaction techniques. The relations between the hydrogen quantity in a-Si : H and substrate temperature are presented. The effect of the substrate temperature on the properties of plasma-deposited silicon nitride and the quantity of oxygen in silicon nitride films are given.