In-Situ Analysis Capability

Although the idea of developing in situ ion-beam characterization of ion-beam processing was identified in the early stage (1987) of establishing the IBML, it has only recently been realized at Los Alamos. An in situ dual ion-beam facility in the Ion Beam Materials Laboratory functioning for ion-beam irradiation and in situ ion-beam characterization since late 1993. In this facility, an analytical beamline from the 3 MV tandem accelerator and an irradiation beamline from the 200 kV ion implanter (shown at right) are connected at to a common target chamber, the surface modification chamber. The ion beam characterization, e.g., Rutherford backscattering spectrometry (RBS) and nuclear reaction analysis (NRA), in conjunction with ion channeling techniques using the tandem accelerator, can monitor the in situ changes of composition and crystallinity of materials being irradiated at temperatures from -100 to 500 degrees celcius by the ion implanter.

A detailed description of the in situ facility has been published in Nuclear Instruments and Methods B [1,2]. Mike Nastasi of the Materials Science and Technology Division is the experimental contact.

[2] N. Yu, T. E. Levine, K. E. Sickafus, M. Nastasi, J. N. Mitchell, C. J. Maggiore, C. R. Evans, M. G. Hollander, J. R. Tesmer, W. J. Weber, and J. W. Mayer, Nucl. Instru. Meth. B (1995), in press.