High electronic excitations and ion beam mixing effects in high energy ion irradiated Fe/Si multilayers

Abstract

Mössbauer spectroscopy (57Fe) shows evidence for mixing effects induced by electronic energy deposition in nanoscale Fe/Si multilayers irradiated with swift heavy ions. A decrease in the mixing efficiency with electronic stopping power is reported; a threshold is found, under which iron environment modifications no longer occur. The kinetics of Fe–Si phase formation after irradiation suggests the existence of three regimes: (i) for high excitation levels, a magnetic amorphous phase is formed directly in the wake of the incoming ion and an almost complete mixing is reached at low fluence (1013 U/cm2); (ii) for low excitation levels, a paramagnetic Si-rich amorphous phase is favored at the interface while crystalline iron subsists at high fluences; (iii) for intermediate excitation levels, saturation effects are observed and the formation rate of both magnetic and paramagnetic phases points to direct mixing in the ion wake but with a reduced track length in comparison to U irradiation. The measured interfacial mixing cross section induced by electronic energy deposition suggests that a thermal diffusion process is mainly involved in addition to damage creation.