Depth profiling of Mg by 2010 keV resonance of 24Mg(p,p′γ)24Mg nuclear reaction

Studies on the characteristics of 2010 keV resonance in 24Mg(p,p′γ)24Mg nuclear reaction for depth profiling Mg in thin films are reported. The resonance reaction, based on the detection of characteristic 1368 keV γ-rays, enables interference free measurement of Mg down to 2 × 1020 atoms/cm3 and has a probing depth of about 20 μm. The width of the resonance extracted from excitation curves for thick (>180 nm) thermally grown elemental Mg films, by SPACES is about 350 ± 50 eV. The reaction has been used to depth profile Mg in a Mg/Ti/Mg/Si film which provides interesting information on interfacial mixing involving Ti layer and the underlying Mg layer.