MAGNETIC BEHAVIOR OF NANOGRANULAR SILICIDE PHASE (FORMED DUE TO SWIFT HEAVY Fe7+ ION IRRADIATION-INDUCED INTERMIXING)

Abstract

Fe films (of ~50 nm ) on p-silicon substrates have been deposited by electron beam evaporation technique to realize Fe /p Si devices. The devices have been irradiated from 100 MeV swift heavy ions of Fe 7+ with a fluence of 1014 ions-cm-2. The morphological and structural characterization have been done from SEM, AFM and XRD facilities. Magnetic behavior has been studied from vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) and SQUID facilities. SEM and AFM studies show the formation of a nanogranular structure. Further, XRD data has shown the formation of intermixed magnetic nanogranular silicide phase ( Fe 5 Si 3) having average grain size of 25 nm. M–H and ZFC (zero field-cooled)/FC (field-cooled) studies show the magnetic behavior of interacting magnetic particles. The observed results have been understood as a typical behavior of interacting magnetic nanograins.