Atomic collision and ionization effects in oxides

• Published in: Nuclear instruments & methods in physics research. Section B, Beam interactions with materials and atoms Vol. 266; no. 12-13; pp. 2828 - 2833
• Main Authors: Zhang, Y., Bae, In-Tae, Weber, W.J.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier B.V 01.06.2008
• Subjects: Amorphization; Atomic collision; Ionization; Irradiation effects; Irradiation effects; Atomic collision; Ionization; 61.80.−x; Amorphization; 34.80.Dp
• ISSN: 0168-583X; 1872-9584
• DOI: 10.1016/j.nimb.2008.03.197

Irradiation with ions and electrons provides accelerated study of radiation damage in nuclear materials, such as those proposed for immobilization of actinides and long-lived fission products. The effects of ion irradiation in SrTiO3, Sm2Ti2O7 and Sr2Nd8(SiO4)6O2, as representative materials, are studied using 1MeV Au+ ions. The irradiation-induced disorder, due to atomic collisions processes, increases nonlinearly with irradiation dose and is well described by a disorder accumulation model that includes contributions from amorphous domains, point defects and defect clusters. Ionization from 200keV electrons induces recrystallization at the amorphous/crystalline (a/c) interface that exhibits several distinct stages associated with residual defect annihilation near the interface, epitaxial regrowth at the interface and a surface-stabilized amorphous state. Understanding ionization effects and the coupled effects of electronic and atomic dynamics on material behavior is a challenging area for scientific research.