Hints on chemical information obtained by ERDA measurements

Nuclear scattering methods like RBS (Rutherford Backscattering) or ERDA (Elastic Recoil Detection Analysis) can provide important information on the elemental composition and depth profiles of thin layers. However, the chemical environment of a scattered atom is destroyed in the scattering process. Nevertheless, certain chemical information on the material under investigation can be obtained: If differences in the composition of slightly different samples can be correlated to parameters of the production process, it is possible to draw conclusions on chemical behaviour.