Oxygen Content Analysis of Metal Surfaces with Resonant α-Scattering

Abstract
The thickness of the thin native oxygen layers on Al, Fe, Co, Ni and Gd metals have been determined by making use of the 3.05 MeV resonance in the elastic scattering reaction 16O (α, α) 16O. The surfaces of iron have been studied specially for different ways of preparation, e.g., evaporation, sputtering, passivation. The advantageous application of the method to interfaces is shown in an investigation of an iron-aluminium sample.