1 MeV Au⁺ ion modification of Fe₃O₄-based epitaxial films

Abstract

The effect of 1 MeV Au+ ion irradiations on the layer stability of the Fe3O4-based films grown epitaxially on MgO(001) substrates was investigated by Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy (RBS) and RBS-Channelling (RBS-C). The ion mixing effect leads to an appearance of the additional FeO x layer and a large enlargement of the thickness of the mixed (Fe,Mg,O) layer in the interfaces. Au+ ions were found to be implanted deeply in the MgO substrate. RBS-C experiments have confirmed that the heavy metallic ion irradiations induce a disorder in the crystalline lattice.