Secondary ion emission of Fe-Ni alloys in the temperature range including the Curie point

The temperature dependence of secondary ion emission was investigated for Fe-Ni ferromagnetic alloys with different Curie points T_c and elemental composition: 35% Ni 65% Fe (T_c=240°C), 40% Ni 60% Fe (T_c=360°C), and 50% Ni 50% Fe (T_c=530°C). The alloy 79% Ni 16% Fe 5% Mo (T_c=345°C) was also studied. The spatial distribution of Ni⁺ and Fe⁺ secondary ions emitted from the (1 1 1) face of invar and permalloy single crystals was shown to be anisotropic with pronounced ion-yield maximum for both components in the 〈1 1 0〉 directions. The shape of the energy distribution of Ni⁺ and Fe⁺ ions was found to be virtually identical for all the alloys under investigation with a most probable energy at 7 eV and a width at half-maximum of 12 eV. The temperature dependence of the Ni⁺ and Fe⁺ emission has a maximum near the Curie point of the investigated alloys and another maximum at the Curie point of nickel which may indicate the precipitation of nickel into microscopic islands on the surface as a result of heating and sputtering. Auger analysis of the surface composition in the surface layers showed a variation in concentration of oxygen and carbon atoms when Fe-Ni alloys pass from the ferromagnetic to the paramagnetic state and this must affect also the secondary ion emission of alloy components.