Annealing behavior and selected applications of ion-implanted alloys

Thermally activated processes cause ion-implanted metals to evolve from the initial state toward thermodynamic equilibrium. The degree of this equilibration is strongly dependent upon temperature, and is considered here for three temperature regimes which are distinguished by the varying mobilities of interstitial and substitutional atoms. In addition, perturbations resulting from the irradiation environment are discussed. Examples are given of the use of implanted and annealed alloys in studies of diffusion, phase diagrams, and solute trapping