TABLE OF CONTENTS The development of microelectronics calls forth progressing interest in processes that occur near the free surface of the semiconductor and near the metal-semiconductor interface [Milnes, A. G. and Feucht, D. F. (1972), Poate, J. M., Tu, K. N. and Mayer, J. W. (1978)]. Investigations of the influence of irradiation on the semiconductor surface show the existence of at least two effects, which have a great practical importance; these are the accumulation of defects in the near-surface zone and the radiation-induced penetration of impurities into the single-crystal semiconductor from a source applied onto the surface. In particular, it was established that as a result of ion irradiation of a metal-semiconductor structure, a higher doping level of the semiconductor surface with a metal could be obtained by relatively small doses in comparison with the high-dose implantation. Upon the irradiation of a heterogeneous system, i.e. metallic film (which serves as a diffusion source) semiconductor, apart from the incorporation of the atoms of the film material into the semiconductor substrate, also the penetration of the atoms of the semiconductor into the metallic film may be observed. These processes have obtained the common denomination of ion beam mixing (IBM). The high expected technological efficiency of the IBM attracted a great attention to this method; however, in spite of numerous publications, the nature of the effect remains unknown. To date, several hypotheses have been suggested to explain this complex phenomenon. Their brief description and analysis are given in section 1.3.1.
