Different alloying behaviors of Co-Mo multilayered films upon ion irradiation and thermal annealing

The Co-Mo system is characterized by a small negative heat of formation being −7 kJ/mol, which provides a small driving force for alloying. In the case of the initial multilayered films with closest-packed semi-coherent interfaces, solid-state interfacial reaction is frustrated upon thermal annealing even at a temperature up to 600 °C. However, amorphization through interfacial reaction was achieved upon ion irradiation as the intensive ion irradiation can elevate the initial energetic state by the irradiation energy as well as destroy the semi-coherent interfaces and thus drive atomic mixing in the films eventually becoming disordered. Received: 7 June 1999 / Accepted: 1 November 1999 / Published online: 8 March 2000