Microstructural and chemical effects of the argon cluster bombardment on a single crystal KGd(WO4)2 surface

• Published in: Applied physics. A, Materials science & processing Vol. 130; no. 11
• Main Authors: Korobeishchikov, Nikolay G., Nikolaev, Ivan V., Atuchin, Victor V., Gerasimov, Evgeny Y., Tolstoguzov, Alexander, Abudouwufu, Tushagu, Fu, Dejun
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 2024; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Argon; Characterization and Evaluation of Materials; Chemical composition; Chemical damage; Chemical effects; Clusters; Condensed Matter Physics; Constituents; Ion beams; Ion bombardment; Lamellar structure; Machines; Manufacturing; Mechanical polishing; Nanotechnology; Nonuniformity; Optical and Electronic Materials; Optical materials; Physics; Physics and Astronomy; Processes; Single crystals; Surfaces and Interfaces; Thickness; Thin Films; Gas cluster ion; ); KGd(WO; Crystal surface; Depth profiling; HRTEM
• ISSN: 0947-8396; 1432-0630
• DOI: 10.1007/s00339-024-07995-6

To elucidate the influence of gas cluster-induced impacts on the deep structure of disturbances in tungstate optical materials, experimental studies were carried out. The precision-polished surface of a KGd(WO 4 ) 2 (KGW) single crystal was processed by an argon cluster ion beam with the average cluster size of 1000 atom/cluster at the energy of 10 keV, which ensures minimal damage and high processing efficiency. By using high-resolution TEM and EDX techniques of the transversely cut lamellae, the alterations in both the structure and chemical composition at varying depths were explore. In a 15 nm thick subsurface layer of the initial specimen, a nonuniform depth distribution was found for the constituent atoms of KGW. The results showed that, after the cluster bombardment, the initial amorphous layer thickness resulting from precision chemical–mechanical polishing was decreased from 50 to 23 nm. The distribution nonuniformity of constituent KGW atoms decreases in the upper subsurface layer, while it increases at greater depths.