Calibration of nitrogen content for GDOES depth profiling of complex nitride coatings

Abstract

Quantitative GDOES studies in protective coating materials (oxides, nitrides, oxynitrides, etc.) are severely limited by the lack of certified standards containing known amounts of oxygen and/or nitrogen. In this work, we propose an alternative method for nitrogen quantification using as calibration samples, a series of deposited nitride coatings whose composition is pre-established by absolute quantitative measurements with Rutherford backscattering spectrometry. This calibration approach was successfully applied to the study of different complex nitride systems as nanometric multilayers or nanocomposite, and to enlarge the application of GDOES to a wider range of practical applications.