Blister formation in Mo/Si multilayered structures induced by hydrogen ions

We report on blister formation in nanometer thick Mo/Si multilayer structures due to exposure to hydrogen ion fluxes. The influence of hydrogen flux and ion energy for blister formation have been measured and compared to a blister model. The blister number density increases significantly around 100 eV when increasing the ion energy from 50 to 200 eV. This stepwise behavior could be explained by the fact that for energies > 100 eV hydrogen ions could directly penetrate to the depth where delamination takes place. From the blister model also the blisters internal pressure and surface energy was calculated to be around 100-800 MPa and gamma = 1.87 J m(-2) respectively.