Factors determining radiation-induced mixing at interfaces

Abstract

A review is given of the principal mechanisms contributing to atomic mixing produced by ion beams at initially well-defined interfaces between solid phases. Their relative importance is discussed in the light of available experimental evidence, and a critical survey is given of current mathematical models. The case of a thin interior implant layer is included. Those aspects of surface sputtering of direct relevance to the construction of the mixing equations are examined.

Mixing mechanisms considered are ballistic relocation, diffusion, radiation-induced segregation, and drifts induced by chemical affinities of the elements concerned, together with constraints on all these from packing (Kirkendall) effects. Ballistic terms are subdivided into direct-recoil and cascade contributions. A brief review is given of the established methods of modelling them by using relocation integral cross-sections, and also the limitations and advantages of their approximation by differential equations of Fokker-Planck (diffusion) type. Genuinely diffusive mechanisms involved are thermal and radiation-enhanced diffusion; the question of the most appropriate form of Fick's law to use in each case is considered. The packing effects may be modelled either as a lattice relaxation to be imposed following each radiation dose increment, or as a continuously computed reversed collective current of atoms. These two approaches are discussed.