Ion-beam mixing in an immiscible Fe/Ag multilayer film

• Published in: Journal of applied physics 2004-05, Vol.95 (10), p.5295-5300
• Main Authors: Amirthapandian, S., Panigrahi, B. K., Srivastava, A. K., Dhara, S., Gupta, Ajay, Sastry, V. S., Nandedkar, R. V., Nair, K. G. M., Narayanasamy, A.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0021-8979; 1089-7550
• DOI: 10.1063/1.1687039

Ion-beam mixing of the thermally immiscible Fe/Ag system is studied by 90 keV Ar+-ion irradiation of Fe/Ag multilayer at 325 K and the evolution of microstructure is studied by x-ray diffraction (XRD), x-ray reflectivity, and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). XRD measurements did not show any evidence of a additional phase formation or increase in solubility due to mixing of Fe in Ag. X-ray reflectivity analysis shows an initial sharpening at the interface for a fluence of 1×1016 ions/cm2 and the destruction of multilayer periodicity is observed for higher fluences. The microstructural studies by TEM show a reduction in Ag particle size with fluence. The size of Ag nanoclusters was optimum at a fluence of 7×1016 ions/cm2 and was found to be in the range of 10–20 nm. The particle density decreases at low fluence and on further irradiation, the particle density increases at higher ion fluences. This indicates the nucleation of Ag particles presumably due to long-range transport of Ag atoms. These Ag atom clusters give rise to a granular microstructure.