Electronic Material Properties - und Geowissenschaften ...

SIMS Analysis of Carbide Nanofilms of Titanium and Tantalum
Formed by Methane Plasma Immersion Ion Implantation
S. Flege, G. Kraft, W. Ensinger
It is well-known that ion implantation of carbon into reactive carbide-forming metals such
as titanium leads to thin films of hard carbides which improve the tribological resistance of
the metal. Apart from conventional beam-line ion implantation, plasma immersion ion
implantation (PIII) can be used.
Titanium and tantalum samples were treated by high voltage pulses at -20 kV in an
atmosphere of methane. The high voltage created a plasma, from which ions of methane
and its fragments were accelerated towards the sample and were implanted. Process
times between 0.5 and 2 hours at a pulse repetition rate of 1 kHz were used.
The samples were analyzed for phase composition by glancing incidence X-ray diffraction
(GIXRD). The element composition was analyzed by X-ray photoelectron spectrometry
(XPS) and by secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) with 8 kV O2+ sputtering.
Fig. 1 shows the SIMS depth profile, given as mass signal intensities over the sputtering
time, of a Ti sample, treated for 1h. 6 masses have been recorded: H-1, C-12, O-16, Ti-46,
Ti-48, and Ti-48 C-12 (mass 60).
Fig. 1: SIMS element profile of Ti, treated by
pulse biasing for 1 h
- 89 -
Fig. 2: SIMS carbon profiles of Ti samples,
treated for 0.5, 1, or 2 h, extracted from the
C-12 signals