Research Article
Veenu Sisodia, Kailash Baliram
Abstract
Systematic ion beam irradiation experiments have been performed on titanium- silicon interfaces with 350 MeV energy gold ions at different fluences. Swift heavy ion induced irradiation effects are reported at different fluences from 0.46 to 4.62 * 1014 ions/cm2. The samples are characterized before (pristine) and after irradiation using Rutherford Backscattering Spectrometry (RBS) to obtain the depth profiles and the interdiffusion at the interface. X-ray reflectivity measurement was used to study the extent of interfacial mixing. Grazing incidence Xray diffraction showed the formation of crystalline titanium silicide phase in the mixed zone. The mechanism of SHI beam mixing observed in Ti/Si system is adequately understood by invoking the thermal spike model. Radiation enhanced diffusion was found to be the dominant process in this system. The irradiation effect on the surface roughness of the system is measured using Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) technique. The current conduction mechanism and schottky barrier height are also calculated by taking I-V curves across the titanium/ Si junction.