Uniformity and interfaces in ion-beam deposited Al/Ni multilayers

Abstract

The uniformity and reaction kinetics of ion-beam deposited Al/Ni multilayer samples with the same composition, Al81.8Ni18.2, and modulation wavelength, Λ = 20 nm, but with different total film thicknesses were investigated by x-ray diffraction and differential scanning calorimetry measurements. The total film thicknesses varied between approximately 0.5 and 2.0 μm. It was found that the interface widths were approximately 1 nm and the Ni layers are much more disordered than the Al layers. The thicker samples show an increase in disorder on a length scale comparable to Λ. In other experiments, a change was observed with increasing modulation wavelength from semicoherent interfaces with a low density of misfit dislocations to semicoherent interfaces with a high density of misfit dislocations. The reaction kinetics for forming the Al9Ni2 phase is independent of the sample thickness.