Ion beam analysis
Encyclopedia
Ion beam analysis is an important family of modern analytical technique
s involving the use of MeV
ion beam
s to probe the composition and obtain elemental depth profiles in the near-surface layer of solids. All IBA methods are highly sensitive and allow the detection of elements in the sub-monolayer range. The depth resolution is typically in the range of a few
nanometers to a few ten nanometers. Atomic depth resolution can be achieved, but requires special equipment. The analyzed depth ranges from a few ten nanometers to a few ten micrometers. IBA methods are always quantitative with an accuracy of a few percent.
Channeling allows to determine the depth profile of damage in single crystals.
The quantitative evaluation of IBA methods requires the use of specialized simulation and data analysis software. SIMNRA and DataFurnace are popular programs for the analysis of RBS, ERD and NRA, while GUPIX is popular for PIXE.
IBA is an area of active research. The last major general IBA conference (Hyderabad, 2007) was published in Nuclear Instruments and Methods B (NIMB), volume 266(8). The last major Nuclear Microbeam conference in Debrecen (Hungary) was published in NIMB 267(12-13).
Analytical technique
An analytical technique is a method that is used to determine the concentration of a chemical compound or chemical element. There are a wide variety of techniques used for analysis, from simple weighing to titrations to very advanced techniques using highly specialized instrumentation...
s involving the use of MeV
MEV
MeV and meV are multiples and submultiples of the electron volt unit referring to 1,000,000 eV and 0.001 eV, respectively.Mev or MEV may refer to:In entertainment:* Musica Elettronica Viva, an Italian musical group...
ion beam
Ion beam
An ion beam is a type of charged particle beam consisting of ions. Ion beams have many uses in electronics manufacturing and other industries. A variety of ion beam sources exist, some derived from the mercury vapor thrusters developed by NASA in the 1960s.-Ion beam etching or sputtering:One type...
s to probe the composition and obtain elemental depth profiles in the near-surface layer of solids. All IBA methods are highly sensitive and allow the detection of elements in the sub-monolayer range. The depth resolution is typically in the range of a few
nanometers to a few ten nanometers. Atomic depth resolution can be achieved, but requires special equipment. The analyzed depth ranges from a few ten nanometers to a few ten micrometers. IBA methods are always quantitative with an accuracy of a few percent.
Channeling allows to determine the depth profile of damage in single crystals.
- RBS: Rutherford backscattering is sensitive to heavy elements in a light matrix
- EBS: Elastic (non-Rutherford) backscattering spectrometry can be sensitive even to light elements in a heavy matrix. The term EBS is used when the incident particle is going so fast that it exceeds the "Coulomb barrierCoulomb barrierThe Coulomb barrier, named after Coulomb's law, which is named after physicist Charles-Augustin de Coulomb , is the energy barrier due to electrostatic interaction that two nuclei need to overcome so they can get close enough to undergo a nuclear reaction...
" of the target nucleus, which therefore cannot be treated by Rutherford'sErnest RutherfordErnest Rutherford, 1st Baron Rutherford of Nelson OM, FRS was a New Zealand-born British chemist and physicist who became known as the father of nuclear physics...
approximation of a point charge. In this case Schrödinger's equationSchrödinger equationThe Schrödinger equation was formulated in 1926 by Austrian physicist Erwin Schrödinger. Used in physics , it is an equation that describes how the quantum state of a physical system changes in time....
should be solved to obtain the scattering cross-section (see http://www-nds.iaea.org/sigmacalc/). - ERD: Elastic recoil detectionElastic recoil detectionElastic Recoil Detection, also referred to as forward recoil scattering, is a nuclear technique in materials science to obtain elemental concentration depth profiles in thin films. An energetic ion beam is directed at the sample to be depth profiled and there is an elastic nuclear interaction...
is sensitive to light elements in a heavy matrix - PIXE: Particle induced X-ray emission gives the trace and minor elemental composition
- NRA: Nuclear reaction analysisNuclear reaction analysisNuclear reaction analysis is a nuclear method in materials science to obtain concentration vs. depth distributions for certain target chemical elements in a solid thin film....
is sensitive to particular isotopes - Channelling: The fast ion beam can be aligned accurately with major axes of single crystals; then the strings of atoms "shadow" each other and the backscattering yield falls dramatically. Any atoms off their latticeCrystal structureIn mineralogy and crystallography, crystal structure is a unique arrangement of atoms or molecules in a crystalline liquid or solid. A crystal structure is composed of a pattern, a set of atoms arranged in a particular way, and a lattice exhibiting long-range order and symmetry...
sites will give visible extra scattering. Thus damage to the crystal is visible, and point defects (interstitialsInterstitial defectInterstitials are a variety of crystallographic defects, i.e. atoms which occupy a site in the crystal structure at which there is usually not an atom, or two or more atoms sharing one or more lattice sites such that the number of atoms is larger than the number of lattice sites.They are generally...
) can even be distinguished from dislocations.
The quantitative evaluation of IBA methods requires the use of specialized simulation and data analysis software. SIMNRA and DataFurnace are popular programs for the analysis of RBS, ERD and NRA, while GUPIX is popular for PIXE.
IBA is an area of active research. The last major general IBA conference (Hyderabad, 2007) was published in Nuclear Instruments and Methods B (NIMB), volume 266(8). The last major Nuclear Microbeam conference in Debrecen (Hungary) was published in NIMB 267(12-13).
External links
- Biennial scientific conference devoted to IBA: there was one in Hyderabad in September 2007. The latest in this series (19th) was held in Cambridge in September 2009 (hosted by the ion beam group in Guildford) and the next (20th) will be in Itapema (Brazil) in 2011 (hosted by the ion beam group in Porto AlegrePorto AlegrePorto Alegre is the tenth most populous municipality in Brazil, with 1,409,939 inhabitants, and the centre of Brazil's fourth largest metropolitan area . It is also the capital city of the southernmost Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul. The city is the southernmost capital city of a Brazilian...
). - Triennial European scientific conference ECAART (European Conference on Accelerators in Applied Research and Technology): the latest was in: Florence, September 2007. The next in this series (10th) will be held in Athens, Greece, September 2010.
- Trienniel scientific conference devoted to PIXE: the latest was in Mexico in 2007, and the next will be in Guildford in 2010.
- "Nuclear Instruments and Methods": The international peer reviewed scientific journal largely devoted to IBA developments and applications
- SIMNRA program for the simulation and analysis of RBS, ERD and NRA
- DataFurnace program for the simulation and analysis of RBS, ERD, NRA, PIXE and PIGE
- NDF free version of NDF (the calculation engine underlying DataFurnace) for the simulation of RBS, ERD and NRA
- GUPIX program for the simulation and analysis of PIXE
- Software for PIXE analysis Intercomparison of PIXE spectrometry software packages
- The Acceleratorer List of IBA related conferences