On the temperature dependence of amorphous cluster formation in ion-implanted alloys

Ni-P alloys were formed by P ion implantation into pure Ni single crystals at low (15 K) and high (300 K) temperature up to a metalloid ion concentration (≈0.12) such that the fractions of amorphous volume obtained at the maximum disorder depth were ≈0.5 for both temperatures. The samples were then heated up or cooled down to the reverse temperature (300 and 15K) and implanted up to total amorphization. The disordering kinetics was followed by RBS and channeling at the different stages of the experiments. The results demonstrate that the implantation temperature entirely governs the amorphization kinetics and the final state of the sample: the amorphous phase formed before the temperature change is transformed by the subsequent implantation into a new amorphous phase with a mean metalloid concentration characteristics of the final implantation temperature.