ION-BEAM MIXING AT THE FE2O3 AL2O3 INTERFACE

Thin Fe2O3 layers (44 and 55 nm) were deposited by pulsed excimer lase r ablation on single-crystal alumina in (alpha-Al2O3 substrates heated at 675 degrees C. The ion beam mixing of these alpha-Fe2O3/alpha-Al2O 3 couples was carried out using 300 keV Kr3+ ions at a fluence of 2x10 (16) ions/cm(2). The mixing effect was followed by Rutherford backscat tering spectrometry (RBS), conversion electron Mossbauer spectroscopy. and grazing incidence x-ray diffraction method, RBS spectra do not sh ow any evidence of mixing at the interface, whereas the data obtained with the two other techniques display phases like oxygen deficient Fe3 O4, Fe3-yAlyO4, and Fe1+xAl2-xO4, For this last phase, x is determined as being equal to about 0.5. it is shown that ion beam mixing is more efficient for the thinner Fe2O3 layer, in accordance with the project ed range of the Kr3+ ions. (C) 1996 American Institute of Physics.