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A compact high-resolution elastic recoil detection analysis (ERDA) system was developed for precise Li analysis. 200–400 keV He+ ions were used as primary ions and the energy spectra of recoiled Li ions were measured using a magnetic spectrometer. Due to its dispersion the background originating from the scattered primary ions is reduced. The recoiled ions of the substrate other than Li, which may also contribute to the background, were rejected by a thin mylar foil placed in front of a focal plane detector. An electrostatic quadrupole lens was installed at the entrance of the magnetic spectrometer to improve the depth resolution by correcting the effect of the kinematic broadening. The performance of the developed high-resolution ERDA was examined by measuring several samples. A thin Li layer (1.5 × 1015 cm−2) deposited on a graphite surface was clearly observed and the detection limit was estimated to be less than 0.01 ML under typical measurement conditions. The depth resolution was estimated to be 0.5 nm at the surface and was better than 3 nm in the surface region within 5 nm from the surface.

Surface structures of equimolar mixtures of imidazolium-based ionic liquids (ILs) having a common cation (1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium ([C4MIM]) or 1-hexyl-3-methylimidazolium ([C6MIM])) and different anions (bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide ([TFSI]), hexafluorophosphate ([PF6]) or chlorine) are studied using high-resolution Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy (HRBS). Both cations and anions have the same preferential orientations at the surface as in the pure ILs. In the mixture, the larger anion is located shallower than the smaller anion. The [TFSI] anion is slightly enriched at the surface relative to [PF6] with coverage of ~ 60% for the equimolar mixtures of [C4(6)MIM] [TFSI] and [C4(6)MIM] [PF6]. No surface segregation is observed for [C6MIM] [TFSI]0.5[Cl]0.5 and [C6MIM] [PF6]0.5[Cl]0.5. These results are different from the recent TOF-SIMS measurement where very strong surface segregation of [TFSI] was concluded for the mixture of [C4MIM] [TFSI] and [C4MIM] [PF6].

Nitrogen depth profiling in a high-k gate stack structure, SiON/HfO2/SiON/Si(0 0 1) was performed by high-resolution Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy (HRBS) in combination with angle-resolved X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (AR-XPS). The nitrogen depth profile is determined so that both the HRBS spectrum and the angular dependence of the XPS yield are reproduced. The obtained nitrogen profile is compared with the result of high-resolution elastic recoil detection (ERD) which is the most reliable technique for depth profiling of light elements. The agreement between the result of the present combination analysis and that of high-resolution ERD is fairly good, showing that the present combination analysis is a promising method for the analysis of light elements.