Ti diffusion in ion prebombarded MgO(100). I. A model for quantitative analysis

Enhancement of Ti diffusion in MgO(100) prebombarded with 7 keV Ar+ has been observed. Diffusion was induced by annealing to 1000 deg. C following the prebombardment and Ti evaporation. Such a sample geometry and experimental procedure alleviates the continuous provision of freely mobile defects introduced by ion irradiation during annealing for diffusion, making diffusion proceed in a non-steady-state condition. Diffusion penetration profiles were obtained by using secondary ion mass spectrometry depth profiling techniques. A model that includes a depth-dependent diffusion coefficient was proposed, which successfully explains the observed non-steady-state radiation enhanced diffusion. The diffusion coefficients are of the order of 10-20 m2/s and are enhanced due to the defect structure inflected by the Ar+ prebombardment