Spatial distribution of Hg+ implanted into Ni as derived by tomographic reconstruction

The three-dimensional distribution of 200 keV Hg implanted into Ni at ambient temperature has been reconstructed by means of a modified tomographic reconstruction technique from three Hg depth profiles for different implantation angles. This is possible by describing the geometrical shape of the 3D distribution by a combination of a longitudinal split-Gaussian with a lateral Gaussian function with in total only 3 adjustable parameters. In the presented example, the depth profiles have been obtained by Rutherford backscattering. The variability of the tomographic results without the preselection of such a specific class of 3D curves is demonstrated for another example. The resulting 3D distribution of Hg in Ni is longer than theoretically predicted along the incident beam direction. This is interpreted by radiation enhanced diffusion of the implanted Hg.