Structural evolution of Co/Cu nanostructures under 1 MeV ion-beam irradiation

• Published in: Journal of applied physics 2004-02, Vol.95 (4), p.1996-2005
• Main Authors: Cai, M., Veres, T., Roorda, S., Schiettekatte, F., Cochrane, R. W.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0021-8979; 1089-7550
• DOI: 10.1063/1.1636529

Co/Cu multilayers with composition wavelength ranging from 2 to 10 nm have been deposited and irradiated at various doses from 1×1014 to 3×1016 ions/cm2 using 1 MeV Si+ ions. The ion-beam-induced variation in structural properties such as interfacial mixing, interface roughness, crystallographic texture, and grain size, are characterized by a variety of x-ray scattering techniques. Irradiating Co/Cu multilayers generate metastable Co–Cu alloys whose electrical and magnetic properties have been found to be very similar to the Co–Cu alloys fabricated by other nonequilibrium methods. Fitting to the low-angle x-ray reflectivity spectra using a standard optical model yields a mixing efficiency comparable to the prediction of a ballistic ion-beam mixing model, and interfacial mixing widths consistent with the values estimated from saturation magnetization measurements.