Phase formation by ion beam mixing in Ni/Al, Pd/Al, and Pt/Al bilayers Available to Purchase

Ion beam and thermal reactions in thin‐film bilayers of Ni/Al, Pd/Al, and Pt/Al have been investigated using electron diffraction and Rutherford backscattering (RBS). Ion mixing was performed with 600‐keV Xe ions at room temperature with doses ranging between 0.25 to 12×10¹⁵ ions/cm². The compositions of the ion induced crystalline phases, NiAl and PdAl, differ both from the overall atomic compositions of the ion mixed layers (as determined by RBS) and from the compositions of the layers obtained by thermal annealing. In Pt/Al bilayers ion mixing forms an amorphous region with atomic composition Pt₄₀Al₆₀ while thermal annealing shows the formation of crystalline Pt₂Al₃. We believe that actual crystal compound formation during mixing is dependent on the high quench rate in the collision cascade region.