Auger Electron Spectroscopy Studies of Sputter Deposition and Sputter Removal of Mo from Various Metal Surfaces

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Abstract
Cu, Au, Al, and W samples were mounted in an ultrahigh vacuum (UHV) chamber such that in situ Ar ion sputter cleaning as well as sputter deposition and sputter removal of Mo and Auger analysis could be performed. The Auger signals indicated that Mo on W forms uniform films while on Cu, Au, and Al the deposited Mo atoms agglomerate into multilayer islands. The sputter removal of the deposited Mo from W proceeds as if Mo is sputtered from Mo. On Cu, Au, and Al, the Ar ion bombardment causes spreading of the Mo more uniformly over the surface. The sputtering yield of Mo atoms from Cu, Au, and Al, especially at low energies, is much lower than that of Mo from Mo. Two hundred‐eV Ar+ ions remove Mo atoms from an Al surface with a yield which is more than three orders of magnitude lower than the bulk Mo yield. Thus, a significant conclusion is that the use of low‐energy ion bombardment (under normal incidence) for layer removal in determination of depth‐composition profiles may often lead to erroneous results.