PREPARATION OF W-C THIN-FILMS BY REACTIVE RF SPUTTERING AND AUGER-ELECTRON SPECTROSCOPY SURFACE CHARACTERIZATION

An r. f. sputtering technique is capable of preparing semiconductor or insulator films as well as conventional metal or alloy films. In the present work, an apparatus of which the Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) analysis chamber was directly connected to the r. f. sputtering apparatus via a gate valve was established and the surface composition of the resulting W-C films was examined without taking them out of vacuum chamber. The sputtering branch is evacuated by ordinary means with an oil diffusion pump, but the AES chamber independently to an ultrahigh vacuum level (down to 10** minus **8Pa) by a turbomolecular pump which operates after the gate valve is closed. 17 Refs.