SCANNING AUGER ELECTRON SPECTROSCOPIC INVESTIGATIONS OF MAGNETOSTRICTIVE NANOSCALE MULTILAYERS

The characterisation of thin magnetostrictive multilayers in the nanometerscale range (4,5nmTb₄₀Fe₆₀/9nmFe)×100 demands a surface sensitive analytical technique. A suitable technique is scanning Auger Electron Spectroscopy (AES) to determine the elemental composition, the thickness, the presence of interdiffusion between thin layers, or the presence of contamination at interfaces.Auger sputter depth profiles are obtained by using Xe-Ion bombardment to etch the sample.Sample rotation during sputtering produces shallow craters, minimises roughening and enhances depth resolution. In addition, Auger maps of the craters are used to reveal the separated magnetostrictive Tb₄₀Fe₆₀ layers and soft magnetic Fe layers.