ToF-SIMS nitrogen profiles in oxynitride thin films: correlation with XPS bonding configurations

Thin silicon dioxide films nitrided in N2/NO/O2 atmosphere at different temperature and NO/O2 flow ratio were investigated by time of flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS) using negative acquisition mode and Cs+ sputtering at low energy. The N depth distributions obtained by the ToF-SIMS profiles were compared with the correspondent N1s peaks acquired in X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, demonstrating that the gradient in ion yield which occurs at the interface using these measurement conditions can be useful to quantify the amount of nitrogen placed exactly at the interface. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.