In elastic recoil detection (ERD) one determines the yield and energy of particla ejected out of the surface region of samples under MeV ion bombardment. By application of this surface and thin film analysis technique one can obtain quantitative information concerning the depth distribution of light elements in a sample to be analysed. The quantitativity and the depth resolving power are based on knowledge of the recoil cross section and the stopping power of high-energy ions in matter.This paper reviews the fundamentals of this technique and the various experimental methods for recoil identification. Furthermore, important features for material analysis, such as detection limits, depth resolution and elemental range are discussed. Some emphasis is put on the conversion of the spectral contribution of the elements to atomic concentrations in the films for several representative cases. Throughout the reviews numerous examples are given to illustrate the features of ERD and to demonstrate empirically the accuracy of the quantification method.

Hydrogen transport in low-pressure chemical vapor deposited Si3N4 has been investigated using samples consisting of a double layer of hydrogenated and deuterated nitride films. Concentration depth profiles of hydrogen and deuterium were measured using elastic recoil detection. Diffusion coefficients for D were derived from the deuterium concentration depth profiles before and after annealing at temperatures in the range 700–1000 °C. The diffusion coefficient is characterized by an activation energy of 2.94 eV for the entire temperature range. Its value varies between 10−17 cm2/s at 700 °C and 5×10−14 cm2/s at 1000 °C.

In this paper we present results on how both the resistance and the magnetoresistance of magnetic spintunnel junctions depend on the oxidation time used to form the AIO, barrier. The bias voltage dependence of junctions with barriers created with different oxidation times is measured and found to be optimal when the oxidation time is chosen to give sufBcient oxygen for the barrier to be stoichiometric A120+ The oxygen content of the barrier was determined by Rutherford Backscattering Spectrometry and Elastic Recoil Detedion.Index Terms-bias dependence, ERD, magnetoresistance, oxygen content in A10, RBS, spin-tunneljunctions.

Doppler S-parameter measurements have been performed on low-pressure chemical vapor deposited (LPCVD) Si3N4 samples. Annealing of the samples at 1000 °C for times up to 1 h resulted in a decrease of both the S parameter and the positron diffusion length of the silicon nitride. The diffusion length recovers after reimplantation of deuterium, but the S parameter remains low. The data are discussed using a model also applied to understand some electrical properties of the LPCVD nitride.

The temperature-dependent behavior of the solid composition xs of AlxGa1−xAs has systematically been studied as a function of gas phase composition xg in an optimized horizontal metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy reactor at atmospheric pressure. Up to a temperature of 660 °C the Al incorporation is constant but slightly exceeds the Ga incorporation. Above this temperature the Al incorporation strongly increases with temperature. This behavior is most probably related to a change in growth mechanism from mass transport limited growth to a regime where the growth is controlled by thermodynamics, especially for the gallium species.