In situ low-angle cross sectioning: Bevel slope flattening due to self-alignment effects

Low-angle cross sections are produced inside an Auger microprobe using the equipped depth profile ion sputter gun. Simply the sample is partly covered by a mask. Utilizing the edge of this mask the sample is sputtered with ions. Due to the shading of the mask a cross section is produced in the sample. The slope of this cross section is considerably shallower than given by the geometrical setup. This is attributed to self-alignment effects, which are due to missing sputter cascades in the transition area between sputtered and shaded sample regions and a chamfering of the mask edge.These self-alignment effects are studied here using a 104.6 nm thick SiO2 layer thermally grown on a Si substrate. In this study on one hand for a fixed ion impact angle of 15.8° as function of the sputter time several in situ low-angle cross sections were produced. This way slope angles between an ultimate low slope angle of 0.014° and 0.085° were achieved. On the other hand for a fixed sputter time the ion impact angle was varied between 14.8° and 70.8°. For these samples cross section slope angles between 0.031° and 0.32° are observed. These results demonstrate the distinct slope flatting of in situ cross sectioning.