High resolution AFM studies of irradiated mica-following the traces of swift heavy ions under grazing incidence

• Published in: Journal of physics. Condensed matter Vol. 30; no. 28; p. 285001
• Main Authors: Gruber, Elisabeth, Bergen, Lorenz, Salou, Pierre, Lattouf, Elie, Grygiel, Clara, Wang, Yuyu, Benyagoub, Abdenacer, Levavasseur, Delphine, Rangama, Jimmy, Lebius, Henning, Ban-d'Etat, Brigitte, Schleberger, Marika, Aumayr, Friedrich
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England IOP Publishing 18.07.2018; IOP Publishing [1989-....]
• Subjects: Condensed Matter; grazing incidence; high resolution AFM; ion tracks; muscovite mica; nanostructure formation; Physics; swift heavy ions
• ISSN: 0953-8984; 1361-648X
• DOI: 10.1088/1361-648X/aac7f7

High resolution AFM imaging of swift heavy ion irradiated muscovite mica under grazing incidence provides detailed insight into the created nanostructure features. Swift heavy ions under grazing incidence form a complex track structure along the surface, which consists of a double track of nanohillocks at the impact site accompanied by a single, several 100 nm long protrusion. Detailed track studies by varying the irradiation parameters, i.e. the angle of incidence (0.2°-2°) and the kinetic energy of the impinging ions (23, 55, 75, 95 MeV) are presented. Moreover, the track formation in dependence of the sample temperature (between room temperature and 600 °C) and of the chemical composition (muscovite mica and fluorphlogopite mica) is studied.