Quantitative thin‐film analysis with an energy‐dispersive x‐ray detector

Abstract

Abstract Recent mathematical approximations of ϕ(ρz), the depth distribution of electron‐excited x‐rays, have opened up the possibility of accurate quantitative analysis of thin‐film specimens by electron beam techniques. This method has been used extensively in electron probe microanalysis. This paper demonstrates quantitative analyses of thin films using energy‐dispersive x‐ray analysis (EDS) coupled with the ϕ(ρz) method. Metal and oxide films were analyzed by several techniques, including electron probe microanalysis (EPMA), Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy (RBS), x‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE) and x‐ray fluorescence spectroscopy (XRF); the results were compared with those obtained from the EDS thin‐film analysis. In the case of Al 2 O 3 films, EDS film thickness results agree to within ±4%, ±7% and ±9% of the TEM, EPMA and SE results, respectively. For metal films, the EDS results agree to within ±12% (thicknesses) and ±7% (composition) of the RBS, EPMA and XRF results.