Nickel aluminide thin film fabrication via ion beam sputtering of compound targets

We report recent results from our use of Kaufman-type ion beam sputtering to fabricate boron-doped nickel aluminide thin films on substrates of Si, NaCl, and polycarbonate resin plastic. Compound targets of boron-doped Ni3Al were bombarded with ≈1 keV Ar ions to form films having thicknesses up to 2000 Å and areas of approximately 2.5 cm × 2.5 cm. Films with Ni/Al ratios similar to the target have been produced on NaCl and Si as determined by instrumental neutron activation analysis. Grazing incidence X-ray diffraction scans show the (111) plane of Ni3Al for films grown on NaCl or Si substrates. Monte Carlo simulations of the compound target sputtering process, taking into account primary ion energy, target surface binding energy, beam-target angle and anisotropy of sputtered species, are compared with film composition as determined by INAA. Results from these measurements comprise complementary data for investigating boron distributions in the films via neutron depth profiling.