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 $\leq E \leq$ 23.3 keV, we compare the measured diamagnetic $\mu^+$ signal fraction $f_{\mathrm{dia.}}$ 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.