Quantitative analysis of calcium and fluorine by high-sensitivity low-energy ion scattering: Calcium fluoride

Low-energy ion scattering (LEIS) probes the atomic composition of the outer surface. Well-defined reference samples are used for the quantitation. For elements like fluorine and calcium, it is not easy to find suitable, clean, and homogeneous references, since fluorine is a gas and calcium is a very reactive metal. In contrast to surface analytic techniques such as XPS, the extreme surface sensitivity of LEIS makes it difficult to use stable compounds like CaF₂ as reference, since these compounds are not homogeneous at the atomic scale. With LEIS, CaF₂ is not expected to show an atomic ratio F/Ca = 2.0. Thus, before CaF₂ can be used as reference, its atomic surface concentrations have to be determined. Here, 3-keV He⁺ scattering by a LiF(001) single crystal, an evaporated layer of Ca, and a Cu foil are used as basic references. High-purity CaF₂ is available in two forms: a single crystal and a powder. For a practical reference, powders are preferred, since if bulk impurities segregate to the surface, they will be dispersed over a large surface area. It is found that both CaF₂ (111) and powder have similar F/Ca atomic ratios. This confirms the F termination for both samples. For the powder, the F and Ca signals are reduced by 0.77 ± 0.03 in comparison with those for the single crystal. The atomic sensitivity factors and relative sensitivity factors have been determined for F, Ca, and Cu.