Abstract
Solid-state reactions in Ni/Si multilayered films (MLF) with an overall stoichiometry of $Ni_2Si$, NiSi and $NiSi_2$, induced by ion-beam mixing (IBM) and thermal annealing, were studied by using spectroscopic ellipsometry and magneto-optical spectroscopy as well as x-ray diffraction (XRD). The mixing was performed with Ar+ ions of an energy of 80 keV and a dose of $1.5 x\times10^{16}$ $Ar^+$/$\textrm{cm}^2$. It was shown that the IBM induces structural changes in the Ni/Si MLF, which cannot be detected by XRD but are confidently recognized by the optical method. A thermal annealing at 673 K of the Ni/Si MLF with an overall stoichiometry of NiSi and $NiSi_2$ causes formation of the first η -NiSi phase. The first trace for $NiSi_2$ phase on the background of NiSi one was detected by XRD after an annealing at 1073 K while, according to the optical results, $NiSi_2$ turns out be the dominant phase for the annealed Ni/Si MLF with an overall stoichiometry of $NiSi_2$.