An investigation was made of the effects of surface roughness and grain boundary diffusion, at high temperatures, upon the Auger electron-spectroscopic sputter depth profiles of bi-layers. The Ag part of the bi-layer was transformed, from a uniform layer to discrete islands, by heat treatment. An enhanced mobility during sputtering at high temperatures made Ag atoms migrate continuously from islands, to cover neighboring exposed Co. This reduced the size of Ag islands. On the basis of the results, it was deduced that the grain boundary diffusion of Ag could be described by:

D (cm2/s) = 10-8exp[-0.46(eV)/kT]

Y.S.Lee, I.S.Choi, K.Y.Lim, K.Jeong, C.N.Whang, H.S.Choe, Y.P.Lee: Journal of Applied Physics, 1996, 79[7], 3534-9