Low energy ion beam mixing of aluminium impurity multilayers

Abstract

The efficiency of ion beam mixing of Ta, W, Hf, Pt, Co, Ni, Ag, Zr, Au, Cu, Mo and V with Al during 4 keV Ne + sputter depth profiling has been determined by LEIS. Values of the mixing efficiency, ( Dt φ F d ), were found by comparing the experimental depth profiles to simulations based on a diffusion approximation to ion beam mixing. The values of ( Dt φ F d ) range from 38 Å 5 eV −1 for Ta in Al to 912 Å 5 eV −1 for Co in Al. These values are larger than those obtained for high energy ion beam mixing in Al but show a similar trend with thermal impurity diffusivity.