Redistribution of components in the niobium-silicon system under high-temperature proton irradiation

The redistribution of components in the niobium-silicon system during magnetron-assisted sputtering of niobium, vacuum annealing, and high-temperature proton irradiation is studied. It is established that, during magnetron-assisted sputtering followed by vacuum annealing, silicon penetrates through the metal film to the outer boundary of the film. Under high-temperature proton irradiation, the suppression of the diffusion of niobium into silicon is observed. This effect is attributed to the high concentration of radiation vacancies in the region of the Nb/Si interphase boundary.