Mixing behaviour of buried transition metal layer in silicon due to swift heavy ion irradiation

The changes in behaviour of mixing at the interface of Si/Me/Si (Me = V, Fe, Co) due to irradiation by swift heavy ions of Au at 120 MeV with respect to the ion dose is reported here. The fluences were varied from 1 x 10(13) to 1 x 10(14) ions/cm(2) on the bi-layers of Si/Me/Si (Me = V, Fe, Co). The interface of Si/Me (Me = V, Fe, Co) was characterized using Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy (RBS) and secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS). In all the three cases, the atomic mixing width was found to be increasing monotonically with ion fluence. The mixing rate calculations were made and the diffusivity values thus obtained suggested a transient melt phase at the interface according to thermal spike model. Further work on the irradiated samples for characterizing the buried layers and formation of stable silicide phases by annealing are being carried out. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.