Synthesis of surface alloy by nanomixing

Based on the potential need of making nano-dimensional contact materials for successful miniaturization of nanoscale devices, we have attempted to synthesize nano-dimensional alloys on the surface of a material. This method has been termed as nanomixing. In this paper, we report on formation of nano-dimensional Au–Ge alloy islands by ion beam mixing of island thin films of Au and Ge. The nanoislands of Au and Ge were grown by UHV electron beam evaporation technique on Si(1 0 0) surface covered with a thin native oxide layer and were irradiated later on by different energetic ions (viz. 1.5 MeV Au, 800 keV Ar and 800 keV Xe) at room temperature over a fluence range of 1 × 1014–2 × 1016 ions cm−2. We have carried out high-resolution transmission electron microscopic study to confirm the formation of Au–Ge alloy in the form of nanoislands.