Variation of secondary ion emission yield with atomic concentrations of Fe, Ni, and Cr ternary alloys and oxides: Application to the analysis of thin oxide films

For binary and ternary alloys of Fe, Ni, and Cr covered with oxygen and for solid oxides of these elements, the emission yield of monoatomic ions, Fe+, Ni+, and Cr+, are linear functions of the atomic concentrations C/sub Fe/, C/sub Ni/, and C/sub Cr/ . This empirical law suggests that the emission of M+ ions obeys a binary process, involving dynamic electronic exchanges between the M sputtered atoms and their neighbors during inelastic collisions. The determined formula for the interrelationship between the M+ intensities and the atomic concentrations is applied to the quantitative analysis of oxide films developed at high temperature on a refractory alloy