Study of the Surface of Polycrystalline Tin Bombarded with Nitrogen Ions

Abstract—The surface layers of polycrystalline tin are analyzed by Auger electron spectroscopy at temperatures of 293–473 K after being in contact with a nitrogen medium at different pressures and after 100–700-eV nitrogen-ion bombardment. It is established that after nitrogen-ion bombardment, a 389-eV peak appears in the Auger spectra, which is assigned to the nitrogen Auger transition KL2,3L2,3. The dependences of the surface nitrogen concentration on the sample temperature, the bombardment duration, and the energy of nitrogen ions are studied. It is noted that the appearance of nitrogen on the surface of Sn results in a shift of the Sn MNN peaks to lower energies, which indicates the formation of a Sn3N2 film. Argon-ion profiling of the sample surface shows that the thickness of the obtained tin-nitride film is one single layer. From the Auger-analysis data it follows that the film does not decompose up to the melting point of tin.