Stopping cross sections of 50- to 230-keV nitrogen ions in silicon measured by ion backscattering spectroscopy

The energy dependence of the total stopping cross section of 50- to 230-keV nitrogen ions in silicon ($\sigma_S(E)$) is measured in order to develop the diagnostics of heavy impurities in films of a nanometer thickness by heavy ion backscattering (HIBS) spectroscopy. At ion energies lower than 150 keV, this $\sigma_S(E)$ dependence occupies an intermediate position between the dependences given in the SRIM and MSTAR data-bases; at higher energies, our dependence is closer to the former dependence. The estimation of the effect of inelastic processes on the stopping cross section demonstrates that the effect of these processes for nitrogen ions can be neglected when heavy impurities in such films are studied by HIBS.