Rutherford Backscattering @ 1.
7 MV Tandetron Accelerator
Protik Roy
(Roll No.-161147)
Supervisor: Dr. Aditya H. Kelkar
(Dated: April 20, 2018)
Rutherford Backscattering Spectrometry (RBS) is a widely used technique for the surface analysis
of solids. In this project we have used a tendetron accelerator to perform the RBS experiment using
highly energetic protons. In this semester We have made thin film to perform RBS. We have also
characterized the energy distribution as well as angular distribution of Rutherford technique.
Key words : Ion collision, Energy & angular distribution, thin film, thickness.
I. Introduction scattered ion, known as scattering angle.
So for fixed projectile and target mass we can have a
Rutherford backscattering spectrometry (RBS) is variation of scattering energy with different scattering
named after Lord Ernest Rutherford. Originally angle and also with different incident energy.
Rutherford used the backscattering of alpha parti-
cles (He++ ) from a gold film to determine the atomic
structure, resulting in the discovery of the nucleus.
RBS as a method for materials analysis was first de-
scribed in 1957 by Rubin et al. In RBS, a target
is bombarded with ions (mainly H + or He++ ) at
an energy in the MeV-range, and the energy of the
backscattered projectile is recorded with an energy
sensitive detector. RBS allows the quantitative deter-
mination of the composition of a material and depth
profiling of individual element present. RBS can pro-
vide quantitative information about material compo-
sition without the need of any reference samples, this
also non-destructive, has a good depth resolution of
the order of several nm. The sensitivity of the or-
der of parts-per-million (ppm) could be obtained us-
Scattering Energy vs Scattering Energy vs
ing RBS technique. For light elements, RBS has a low Scattering angle for Al Scattering angle for Au
sensitivity[1].
Figure 2: variation of scattering energy with
different scattering angle
II. Theory
In RBS, projectile of mass M1 , moving with con-
stant velocity V0 , and energy E0 collides elastically
with a stationary target particles of mass M2 . Energy
is transferred from moving particle to the stationary
particle. Here projectile energy E0 must be larger
than the binding energy of the atoms in the target and
also nuclear reactions and resonances must be absent.
A kinematic factor (K) is defined as[2],
E1
K= (1)
E0
Where E1 is the energy of the scattered ion. Using
conservation equations (momentum &. energy) we
can obtain K as,
Scattering Energy vs Scattering Energy vs
2
M12 Incident Energy for Al Incident Energy for Au
M2 1
K= (cosθ ± [ − sin2 θ] 2 )2 (2)
(M1 + M2 )2 M1
Figure 4: variation of scattering energy with Incident
Here, + for M2 > M1 and - for M2 < M1 . θ is the Energy
angle between the direction of the projectile ion and
2
III. Analytic measurement of thickness is kept at 20 kV (depending on positive or negative
operation) the ions run towards the extraction plate,
kept at ground potential. For this experiment, we in-
troduce H + ions at 20 KV from the ion source. Typi-
cally negative ion current of 25 mA is needed in actual
operation[3].
B. Thin film deposition technique
Thermal evaporation is a popular physical vapor
deposition technique. In this process, a material in a
high-vacuum environment is heated to its evaporation
point by joule heating of the resistive boat in which
it is located. The vaporized molecules then travel
from the source to the substrate where they nucleate
together, forming a thin film coating. A wide vari-
Figure 5: Schematic of a transmission experiment to ety of materials can be deposited using this technique
measure the ∆E/∆x loss of a swift particle in a such as aluminum, silver, nickel, chrome, magnesium,
dense medium. among many others.
As the particle traverses through the target, it slows
down and also its kinetic energy E decreases. The
amount of energy ∆E decease per distance ∆x tra-
versed is known as the specific energy loss.
∆E dE
lim ≡ (E) (3)
∆x→0 ∆x dx
dx
By knowing dE we can estimate thin film thickness
Figure 6: Typical dependence of dE dx
as a function of Figure 7: Thermal Evaporator[4]
the kinetic energy E of the projectile[3].
as follows,
C. Scattering chamber
Z E0
dx
x= dE (4)
E dE In RBS experiment, scattering chamber consists of
target ladder, suppressor, detector. The target film
to be analyzed, are sealed on a target ladder, placed
IV. Experimental details perpendicular to the ion beam. The metallic ladder
also help in measuring the beam current of projectile
A. Ion source ion beam. A solid-state detector is mounted at a fixed
scattered angle to detect the scattered beam. Here we
The HVEE Model 358 Duoplasmatron ion source is use si surface barrier detector, which is semiconduc-
a modified Von Ardenne type ion source, capable of tor detectors operating under a reverse bias voltage
producing positive or negative ion beams. The work- of 50V. The reverse bias voltage increases the deple-
ing principle is based on two-stage discharge. The tion region around the p-n junction and only a very
first discharge is produced by electrons generated by small leakage current flows. When a charged particle
a thermo ionic emission from a filament. Electrons are enters the depletion region, it creates carriers of elec-
guided by means of a confining magnetic field into a tricity, free electrons, and holes, through ionization.
second chamber containing the flowing gas. The ion- This causes current to flow momentarily until all the
ized gas starts a secondary discharge between the in- free carriers are swept away. This small current can
termediate electrode and the anode. Since the source then be detected as a pulse, with the help of a pre-
3
amplifier and amplifier. Einc. Target Escat. (T h.) Einc. (Exp.) ThAl ThAu
Si 2154.24 2161.42
2400 Cu 2287.44 2245.91 11.79 7.62
D. Electronic devices Ag 2333.76 2355.25
Be 1427 1450.71
2000 Cu 1906.2 1868.19 10.79 7.79
Ag 1944.8 1972.56
Be 1141.6 1147.54
1600 Si 1436.16 1425.86 11.62 8.3
Cu 1524.96 1480.53
Table:1
Using H + as projectile the measured thickness for Au
film, is similar but for Al film, we could not differen-
tiate Al film peak from Si substrate. Energy distribu-
tion plots for Au are shown here,
Figure 8: Schematic circuit diagram
• A charge-sensitive pre-amplifier is used for the
amplification of the detector signal. Typi-
cally we use SILENA MILANO (mod. 205)
pre-amplifier. Pulse shaping time of this pre-
amplifier in our experiment is 6 ms and ampli-
tude 200 mV.
• The amplifier is used here to amplify the output
of pre-amplifier. We use ORTEC 572A[7] am-
plifier. The total gain of the amplifier is kept
at around 500 and is kept fixed through out the Au on Si for 2400 KeV H + Au on Si for 1600 KeV H +
experiment. beam beam
Figure 10: Energy distribution for Au film on Si
• Multichannel Analyzer (MCA) are used here substrate
to turn the amplifier pulse output into digital
signal. It provides number of pulse count 2. H + as projectile ion beam on Au(Si).
(digital form) in each channel number which
TargetTM eas. θ E1 (T h.) E1 (Exp.) ∆ET h. ∆EExp.
can be used for further analysis. 130 2359.92 2398.086
5.28 5.162
Au(10nm) 7.99 150 2354.64 2392.924
2.88 5.162
• Experimentally what we have found from MCA 170 2351.76 2387.62
130 2359.92 2398.086
is simulated by SIMNRA program. SIMNRA al- 5.28 5.162
lows almost accurate simulation of a large num- Au(20nm) 7.99 150 2354.64 2392.924
ber of elastic backscattering experiment. 2.88 5.162
170 2351.76 2387.62
V. Results
Table:2
+
Using H as projectile the measured thickness for Au
In this semester I made Al and Au film on Si substrate film, is nearly similar. Here energy difference of exper-
of different thickness to characterize its energy and imentally obtained for different scattering angle, are
angular distribution. very similar to theoretical value. Energy distribution
plots for Au are shown here.
1. H + as projectile ion beam on Au(Si) & Al(Si).
4
Figure 13: Angular distribution for Au film on Si
Figure 16: Angular distribution for Au film on Si
substrate
substrate
3. H + as projectile ion beam on Au(Si) & Al(Si).
Now to compare Escat. vs Incident energy & scattering
Target TM eas. θ Escat. (T h.)Einc. (Exp.)∆ET h.∆EExp. angle obtained by eq. 1 & 2, with experimental plot,
95 2207.28 2238.25
39.96 5.162
Al(50nm) 49.8 135 2104.56 2198.29
44.64 69.92
170 2059.92 2128.37
95 2207.28 2208.28
5.28 5.162
Au(90nm)89.23135 2104.56 2173.32
2.88 5.162
170 2059.92 2098.40
Table:3
Here also theoretical value is similar for Au film but
not for Al film. Energy distribution plots for Au are Figure 19: variation of scattering energy with incident
shown here, energy
5
• ∆ELi3+ : 1111.42 KeV
So He2+ and Li3+ give much better energy separation
than H + as projectile.
VI. Conclusion
In this semester, I have learned the technique of RBS
in more details.I have done the experiment on thin
film sample, Au & Al with H + beam.By doing anal-
ysis of Al film with different energetic H + , we have
seen that we cannot differentiate light mass particle
(like Al) from its substrate (see Fig.14). So for RBS,
He++ or Li+++ (higher mass particle) will be more
Scattering Energy vs Scattering Energy vs
Scattering angle for Al Scattering angle for Au appropriate.
Figure 18: variation of scattering energy with
different scattering angle VII. Acknowledgement
I would like to thank my supervisor Dr. Aditya H.
Kelkar for his guidance and encouragement in this
field and also Dr. Nobin Banerjee for his excellence
Target Projectile Kinematic (K) Escat. (T h.)
in the lab. I would also be thankful to Prof. Anjan
H+ 0.7135 1712.4 Gupta and Mr. Anil kumar.
Be He2+ 0.2351 564.24
Li3+ 0.0388 93.12
H+ 0.8902 2136.48
Al He2+ 0.675 1620 VIII. Declaration
Li3+ 0.4375 1045.68
H+ 0.9531 2287.44 As the author of the report, I confirm that no part
Cu He2+ 0.8262 1982.88 of the work has been plagiarized from any source.
Li3+ 0.7154 1716.96
H+ 0.9724 2333.76
Ag He2+ 0.8947 2147.28
Li3+ 0.8230 1975.2 IX. Reference
H+ 0.9848 2363.52
Au He2+ 0.9409 2258.16
Li3+ 0.8988 2157.12
Table:4
From the above table, for Al film on Cu substrate
[1] Rutherford Backscattering Spectrometry (RBS)
Escat. at the film surface is almost same (∆E for H + by M. Mayer Max-Planck-Institut f ur Plasma-
: 150.96 KeV) for H + but this difference is way physik, EURATOM Association, Garching, Germany
better for He2+ and Li3+ (∆E for He2+ : 362.88 http://users.ictp.it/~pub_off/lectures/lns022/
KeV and ∆E for Li3+ : 671.28 KeV). Mayer_1/Mayer_1.pdf
The same argument I can draw for AU film on Al [2] Backscattering Spectrometry by Wei-Kan Chu, James
substrate: W. Mayer, Marc-A Nicolet, page-23.
[3] Backscattering Spectrometry by Wei-Kan Chu, James
• ∆EH + : 227.04 KeV W. Mayer, Marc-A Nicolet, page-34, Fig.-2.7b.
[4] Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, Southern Lab,
• ∆EHe2+ : 638.16 KeV Low temperature lab.
