Analysis of nanolayered samples with a 4He beam

We analysed Si(1 0 0)/Al2O3 500 nm/(CoFeB 2-7 nm/Al2O3 0.7-1.5 nm)×4/Ta 2 nm multilayers. Layer thickness, composition and roughness, as well as interdiffusion on annealing, are important parameters to be determined. This poses an extreme challenge to any analysis technique. We show that the technique of choice can be Rutherford backscattering with an inexpensive Si surface barrier detector, complemented by elastic recoil detection analysis and X-ray diffraction experiments.