ABSTRACT
The use of million electron volt (MeV) ion beams for materials analysis was instigated by the revolution in integrated circuit technology. Thin planar structures were formed in silicon by energetic ion implantation of dopants to create electrical active regions and thin metal films were deposited to make interconnections between the active regions. Ion implantation was a new technique in the early 1960s and interactions between metal films and silicon required analysis. For example, the number of ions implanted per square centimetre (ion dose) and thicknesses of metal layers required careful control to meet the specifications of integrated circuit technology. Rutherford backscattering spectrometry (RBS) and MeV ion beam analysis were developed in response to the needs of the integrated circuit technology. In turn integrated circuit technology provided the electronic sophistication used in the instrumentation in ion beam analysis. It was a synergistic development of analytical tools and the fabrication of integrated circuits.
