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Taper-sectioning techniques in surface analysis

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thesis
posted on 2018-05-03, 08:59 authored by Ian K. Brown
The provision of accurate composition-depth profiles is important in the investigation and characterization of thin and thick films, surface coatings, surface treatments and many other technological applications. Such profiles are normally obtained using a combination of sputter ion etching and surface analytical techniques. However, there are problems with this approach, particularly at depths greater than 1μm, since surfaces are generally eroded in a non-uniform way. Profiles to these depths are best achieved by using Auger electron spectroscopy in combination with a technique for mechanically tapering the specimen surface. Ball-cratering, which employs a rotating steel ball coated in fine diamond paste to abrade. a well-defined spherical crater in the surface, is shown to be a convenient and accurate method. [Continues.]

Funding

Loughborough University. Science and Engineering Research Council and National Physical Laboratory (CASE award).

History

School

  • Science

Department

  • Physics

Publisher

© I.K. Brown

Publisher statement

This work is made available according to the conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) licence. Full details of this licence are available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

Publication date

1983

Notes

A Master's Thesis. Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of Master of Philosophy at Loughborough University.

Language

  • en

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