Despite the technological importance of nanostructured materials, mass transport phenomena, such as diffusion and reaction, at interfaces were still poorly understood when nanoscale distances or short diffusion time were involved. Some typical examples were presented here concerning (i) the initial stages of intermixing in a metallic Ni/Cu(111) heterostructure, (ii) the effect of biaxial stress on the diffusion of Sb in Si/Si1-xGex heterostructures and (iii) the influence of a Pt addition on the reaction sequence at a Ni(Pt)/Si interface. It was shown some surprising nanoscale effects such as: (i) layer-by-layer dissolution instead of total intermixing, (ii) increase of diffusion coefficients by a biaxial compression for a vacancy-mediated dopant and (iii) stabilization in a large temperature domain of a non-equilibrium Ni(Pt)/Si interface.

Reaction and Diffusion at Interfaces of Micro- and Nanostructured Materials. P.Gas, C.Girardeaux, D.Mangelinck, A.Portavoce: Materials Science and Engineering B, 2003, 101[1-3], 43-8