Microprobe PIXE study of Ni–Ge interactions in lateral diffusion couples

Rutherford backscattering spectrometry on the nuclear microprobe (μRBS) is often used in studies of lateral diffusion couples. RBS requires that the positions of the interacting species on the periodic table are not too close in terms of atomic number and therefore do not produce excessive RBS peak overlap. In order to satisfactorily characterize systems that have atomic numbers which are close, it is necessary to find techniques which can complement μRBS. The aim of this study was to determine the extent to which particle induced X-ray emission (PIXE) could be applied in the lateral diffusion couple study of a system with relatively close atomic numbers. This was with a view that it may eventually be adopted to study systems where the atomic numbers are too close for RBS analysis. The system studied here was the Ni–Ge binary system. Since RBS is an established technique for studying lateral diffusion couples, we used it as a standard for comparison. The PIXE results showed a maximum error of 12% with reference to the RBS standard. In order to achieve the most effective use of PIXE in lateral diffusion couple studies we recommend the use of the technique in such a way as to obtain depth information and the use of relatively thick sample layers.