We investigated the effects of surface roughness and grain boundary diffusion (GBD) at elevated temperatures on the Auger-electron-spectroscopy sputter depth profiles of Co–Ag bilayers and the GBD process of Ag atoms in Co. The Ag layer in the Ag/Co bilayer is transformed from a uniform layer to discrete islands by heat treatment. Enhanced mobility during sputtering at elevated temperatures makes Ag atoms migrate continually from islands to cover neighboring exposed Co, which reduces the size of Ag islands. On the other hand, the surface morphological modification of Co/Ag bilayer does not occur by heat treatment, and the depth profile at 340 °C resembles that from a uniformly intermixed film, which shows a drastic difference from that of Ag/Co. This is explained with a very thin and stable accumulation of Ag on the Co layer by GBD. A model of structural changes in Co/Ag subjected to ion sputtering at elevated temperatures is proposed on the basis of the results. The activation energy and pre-exponential factor for GBD of Ag in Co are found to be 0.46±0.06 eV and ∼1×10−8 cm2/s, respectively.
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