Swift heavy ion beam mixing in Mo/Si system

The swift heavy ion (SHI) beam induced mixing at the Mo/Si interface in single and multilayer samples is investigated. The extent of interfacial mixing is estimated through X-ray reflectivity measurements and the phases of the crystalline molybdenum silicides (Mo3Si5, h-MoSi2, t-MoSi2) formed in the mixed zone are identified by grazing incidence X-ray diffraction. The mechanism of SHI beam mixing observed in Mo/Si system is adequately understood by invoking the thermal spike model. An experimentally observed upper limit for the threshold of defect creation by electronic energy loss in Mo, is established through this work.