Surface characterisation of thin solid foil targets by ion impact

Abstract

The characterise the surface condition of thin solid foils (x approximately=1000 AA) by ion impact, a novel combination of different independent methods of control has been used: (1) Auger electron spectroscopy (AES); (2) secondary electron spectroscopy (SES); (3) measurement of the total electron coefficient gamma ; and (4) detection of elastically scattered projectiles. Surfaces of various elemental foils (6<or=ZT<or=83) have been carefully prepared by heavy-ion- (Kr+-) induced sputtering. Coverage could be removed from the target surfaces (better than 0.3 remaining monolayers) and the roughness could be reduced considerably.