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Grain boundary diffusion coefficients in gold–nickel thin films
Author(s) -
AbdulLettif Ahmed M.
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
surface and interface analysis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.52
H-Index - 90
eISSN - 1096-9918
pISSN - 0142-2421
DOI - 10.1002/sia.1550
Subject(s) - grain boundary diffusion coefficient , grain boundary , nickel , crystallite , auger , vacuum evaporation , analytical chemistry (journal) , polycrystalline silicon , wafer , thin film , evaporation , silicon , diffusion , metallurgy , materials science , auger electron spectroscopy , effective diffusion coefficient , chemistry , thermodynamics , atomic physics , composite material , layer (electronics) , nanotechnology , microstructure , medicine , physics , radiology , chromatography , nuclear physics , magnetic resonance imaging , thin film transistor
Polycrystalline gold–nickel thin films are deposited on silicon (111) wafers by evaporation in a vacuum of 2 × 10 −6 mbar. Concentration profiles of heat‐treated specimens are obtained by Auger electron depth profiling. The heat treatments are carried out in a vacuum furnace of 4 × 10 −6 mbar in the temperature interval 473–773 K. The grain boundary diffusion coefficient is determined, using a modified Wipple model, to be (3 × 10 −4 cm 2 s −1 ) exp (−0.94 eV kT −1 ). It is concluded that interdiffusion in the investigated system is characterized by type B kinetics, and that grain boundary diffusion plays a dominant role in the mass transport process of such films. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.