The combinatorial optimization simulated annealing algorithm is applied to the analysis of Rutherford backscattering data. The analysis is fully automatic, i.e., it does not require time-consuming human intervention. The algorithm is tested on a complex iron-cobalt silicide spectrum, and all the relevant features are successfully determined. The total analysis time using a PC 486 processor running at 100 MHz is comparable to the data collection time, which opens the way for on-line automatic analysis.

We have introduced defects into clean samples of the organic superconductor kappa-(BEDT-TTF)(2)Cu(SCN)(2) in order to determine their effect on the temperature dependence of the interlayer conductivity and the critical temperature T(c). We find a violation of Matthiessen's rule that can be explained by a model of involving a defect-assisted interlayer channel which acts in parallel with the bandlike conductivity. We observe an unusual dependence of T(c) on residual resistivity, inconsistent with the generalized Abrikosov-Gor'kov theory for an order parameter with a single component, providing an important constraint on models of the superconductivity in this material.

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Ion beam analysis (IBA) is a cluster of techniques including Rutherford and non-Rutherford backscattering spectrometry, and particle-induced X-ray emission (PIXE). Recently, the ability to treat multiple IBA techniques (including PIXE) self-consistently has been demonstrated. The utility of IBA for accurately depth profiling thin films is critically reviewed. As an important example of IBA, three laboratories have independently measured a silicon sample implanted with a fluence of nominally 5.1015As/cm2 at an unprecedented absolute accuracy. Using 1.5 MeV 4He+ Rutherford backscattering spectrometry (RBS), each lab has demonstrated a combined standard uncertainty around 1% (coverage factor k=1) traceable to an Sb-implanted certified reference material through the silicon electronic stopping power. The uncertainty budget shows that this accuracy is dominated by the knowledge of the electronic stopping, but that special care must also be taken to accurately determine the electronic gain of the detection system and other parameters. This RBS method is quite general and can be used routinely, to accurately validate ion implanter charge collection systems, to certify SIMS standards, and for other applications. The generality of application of such methods in IBA is emphasised: if RBS and PIXE data are analysed self-consistently then the resulting depth profile inherits the accuracy and depth resolution of RBS and the sensitivity and elemental discrimination of PIXE

Rutherford backscattering spectrometry (RBS) and related techniques have long been used to determine the elemental depth profiles in films a few nanometres to a few microns thick. However, although obtaining spectra is very easy, solving the inverse problem of extracting the depth profiles from the spectra is not possible analytically except for special cases. It is because these special cases include important classes of samples, and because skilled analysts are adept at extracting useful qualitative information from the data, that ion beam analysis is still an important technique.We have recently solved this inverse problem using the simulated annealing algorithm. We have implemented the solution in the 'IBA DataFurnace' code, which has been developed into a very versatile and general new software tool that analysts can now use to rapidly extract quantitative accurate depth profiles from real samples on an industrial scale. We review the features, applicability and validation of this new code together with other approaches to handling IBA (ion beam analysis) data, with particular attention being given to determining both the absolute accuracy of the depth profiles and statistically accurate error estimates.We include examples of analyses using RBS, non-Rutherford elastic scattering, elastic recoil detection and non-resonant nuclear reactions. High depth resolution and the use of multiple techniques simultaneously are both discussed. There is usually systematic ambiguity in IBA data and Butler's example of ambiguity (1990 Nucl. Instrum. Methods B 45 160-5) is reanalysed. Analyses are shown: of evaporated, sputtered, oxidized, ion implanted, ion beam mixed and annealed materials; of semiconductors, optical and magnetic multilayers, superconductors, tribological films and metals; and of oxides on Si, mixed metal silicides, boron nitride, GaN, SiC, mixed metal oxides, YBCO and polymers. OverviewWe will review our recent software developments in thin film depth profiling with ion beam analysis (IBA, see the 6 Centre de Física Nuclear da Universidade de Lisboa, Avenida Prog. Gama Pinto 2, 1699 Lisboa Codex, Portugal Glossary in section 2 for an explanation of the acronyms) in the context of the work of the community; discussing the scientific implications of these developments. We hope to show that these developments improve the usability of IBA to such an extent as to effectively establish a new depth profiling tool.We start (section 2) with a simplified overview of IBA since we believe that our new software tool (the IBA

An excess of anionic surfactant at the surface of waterborne acrylic pressure-sensitive adhesives (PSAs) is identified through the complementary use of atomic force microscopy and elemental depth profiling with Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy. This surfactant is distributed around the particles at the film surface, where it presumably contributes to the stabilization of the particles against coalescence. This result is not consistent with the prediction of a process model of film formation that a coalesced skin layer should form, owing to the polymer's low zero-shear-rate viscosity (5 × 10 4 Pa s). To investigate the reason for the surface excess, the spatial distribution of water during film formation of the latex PSAs has been determined using magnetic resonance profiling. In the later stages of drying, the water concentration is very low near the surface, and it increases linearly with the depth into the film. The water profiles indicate that the deformation of particles is not accompanied by coalescence but that water-filled capillaries exist at particle boundaries. It is suggested that the transport of surfactant (and water-soluble polymer, ions, and other species) to the surface is driven by the capillary pressure.

The use of reactive surfactants is a promising way of avoiding the deleterious effects on film properties caused by the segregation of conventional surfactants. In this work, the distributions of conventional and reactive anionic surfactants in acrylic latex films are compared. Atomic force microscopy was used to examine the surface of the films cast from high solids content acrylic latexes, and Rutherford backscattering spectrometry provided depth profiles of the surfactants. It was proven conclusively that the use of surfmers is an effective way of eliminating unwanted surfactant exudation. The amount of conventional surfactant (sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS)) exuded to the surface increased with the temperature at which the films were annealed (60, 90, and 125 °C), but the migration of the surfmer (sodium tetradecyl maleate) was very minimal and only weakly dependent on temperature. An unexpectedly large amount of conventional surfactant was exuded to the film surface when annealed at 125 °C. This result suggests that its transport to the surface might be facilitated by the enhanced mobility of poly(acrylic acid) shells at temperatures above the polymer's glass transition temperature (ca. 106 °C).

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