DYNAMIC PROCESSES OF ALTERED LAYER FORMATION IN Cu-Pt ALLOYS UNDER ION BOMBARDMENT

Abstract

Three different experimental approaches have been developed to study the dynamic process of subsurface altered layer formation in a Cu-Pt alloy under Ar + ion bombardment: (1) sputter neutral mass spectrometry by multiphoton ionization (MPI-SNMS) for the study of preferential sputtering caused by the collision cascade process in the very initial stage of sputtering; (2) ion scattering spectroscopy (ISS)-Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) sequential measurements for investigating radiation-enhanced Gibbsian segregation in the transient stage of sputtering; (3) an approach based on ISS monitoring by prompt switching of the ion bombardment with ( He ++ Ar +) ions to that with He + ions, for revealing the cooling effect in radiation-enhanced diffusion in the final steady state of sputtering. For this we have developed a specific coevaporating device for depositing Cu and Pt simultaneously on a substrate at constant deposition rate. The coevaporating device was attached to both of the specimen chambers of the Auger microprobe, JAMP-3, and of the MPI-SNMS apparatus. The results have clearly revealed: (i) ion bombardment causes a preferential sputtering of Cu atoms in the very initial stage of sputtering, (ii) followed by gradual formation of an altered layer as ion sputtering proceeds in the transient stage, and (iii) finally the alloy system approaches a steady state where the composition profile is controlled by cascade mixing, radiation-enhanced Gibbsian segregation and radiation-enhanced diffusion to satisfy the mass balance law. In the steady state the approach (3) has, first, revealed that the cooling effect does exist in radiation-enhanced diffusion.