Sputtering induced roughening effects on ion beam profiling of multilayers

The surface roughening during ion sputtering and related broadening of the distribution profiles of composition of originally sharp interfaces of multilayer structures obtained by measurements of surface composition during depth profiling by ion sputtering methods are considered. The process of surface roughening is induced by the stochastic nature of the atom ejection from the ion bombarding surface. It is shown that the increase of surface roughness with sputtering time as t1/2 leads to the decrease of the height of amplitudes of the constituent components of surface concentrations in time approaching the steady state values. The steady state values of surface concentrations of constituent components are obtained from the mass conservation law.