Implantation studies of low-energy positive muons in niobium thin films

Abstract

Here we study the range of keV positive muons ${\mu }^{+}$ implanted in Nb${}_2$O${}_5$($x$ nm)/Nb($y$ nm)/SiO${}_2$(300 nm)/Si [$x$ = 3.6 nm, 3.3 nm; $y$ = 42.0 nm, 60.1 nm] thin films using low-energy muon spin spectroscopy (LE-$\mu$SR). At implantation energies 1.3 keV $\le E\le$ 23.3 keV, we compare the measured diamagnetic ${\mu }^{+}$ signal fraction $f_{dia.}$ against predictions derived from implantation profile simulations using the TRIM.SP Monte Carlo code. Treating the implanted ${\mu }^{+}$ as light protons, we find that simulations making use of updated stopping cross section data are in good agreement with the LE-$\mu$SR measurements, in contrast to parameterizations found in earlier tabulations. Implications for other studies relying on accurate ${\mu }^{+}$ stopping information are discussed.

13 pages, 11 figures

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