Swift heavy ion irradiation of a-Si/Fe/c-Si trilayers

Si/Fe/Si trilayers, with 12 nm amorphous Si and 45 nm polycrystalline Fe films deposited on Si(100) wafers, were irradiated with 350 MeV Au26+ ions at fluences of (0.6-11.3)x10(14) ions/cm(2). The ion-induced modifications of their structural and magnetic properties were characterized by means of Rutherford backscattering, glancing angle x-ray diffractometry, and the magneto-optical Kerr effect. The mixing rate at the upper a-Si/Fe interface was three times as high as that at the lower Fe/c-Si interface. A simple formula is proposed, which on the basis of (nuclear) thermal-spike mixing reproduces the observed (electronic) mixing rates. Ion irradiation at a moderate fluence (6.7x10(14)/cm(2)) induced a magnetic anisotropy in the sample, which was magnetically isotropic after deposition. At the highest fluence, full interface mixing occurred and the magnetic anisotropy almost disappeared. The results are compared with those obtained in Fe/Si and Ni/Si bilayers ion irradiated in the regimes of nuclear and electronic stopping. (c) 2006 American Institute of Physics.