Study of Low Energy Ion Beam-Assisted Mixing in Al/Sb Bilayer

The present work reports the formation of AlSb alloy thin films in controlled way by ion beam induced mixing of Al/Sb bilayer which is suitable for high temperature applications. The Al/Sb bilayer thin films were prepared by successive thermal evaporation of Sb and Al over quartz substrate. The films were irradiated by 350 keV Kr
²⁺
ions with ion fluences from 3×10
¹⁵
to 3×10
¹⁶
ions/cm
²
. Pristine and irradiated films were characterized by Rutherford Backscattering Spectrometry (RBS) and High Resolution Xray Diffraction (HRXRD) in order to study the inter diffusion and phase evolution respectively. The HRXRD data shows that amount of AlSb phase increases with the increase in ion fluence. The analysis of RBS data shows that the thickness of mixed layer increases with the ion fluence. Both ballistic induced intermixing and irradiation stimulated diffusion are responsible for the AlSb phase formation.