Sample preserving deep interface characterization technique.
We propose a nondestructive technique based on atomic core-level shifts to characterize the interface quality of thin film nanomaterials. Our method uses the inherent sensitivity of the atomic core-level binding energies to their local surroundings in order to probe the layer-resolved binary alloy composition profiles at deeply embedded interfaces. From an analysis based upon high energy x-ray photoemission spectroscopy and density functional theory of a Ni/Cu fcc (100) model system, we demonstrate that this technique is a sensitive tool to characterize the sharpness of a buried interface. We performed controlled interface tuning by gradually approaching the diffusion temperature of the multilayer, which lead to intermixing. We show that core-level spectroscopy directly reflects the changes in the electronic structure of the buried interfaces, which ultimately determines the functionality of the nanosized material.
Holmström
E
E
Theoretical Division, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545, USA. erikh@lanl.gov
Olovsson
W
W
Abrikosov
I A
IA
Niklasson
A M N
AM
Johansson
B
B
Gorgoi
M
M
Karis
O
O
Svensson
S
S
Schäfers
F
F
Braun
W
W
Ohrwall
G
G
Andersson
G
G
Marcellini
M
M
Eberhardt
W
W