Color center formation in silica glass induced by high energy Fe and Xe ions

Silica glass samples were implanted with 1.157 GeV ⁵⁶Fe and 1.755 GeV ¹³⁶Xe ions to fluences range from 1 × 10¹¹ to 3.8 × 10¹² ions/cm². Virgin and irradiated samples were investigated by ultraviolet (UV) absorption from 3 to 6.4 eV and photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy. The UV absorption investigation reveals the presence of various color centers (E′ center, non-bridging oxygen hole center (NBOHC) and ODC(II)) appearing in the irradiated samples. It is found that the concentration of all color centers increase with the increase of fluence and tend to saturation at high fluence. Furthermore the concentration of E′ center and that of NBOHC is approximately equal and both scale better with the energy deposition through processes of electronic stopping, indicating that E′ center and NBOHC are mainly produced simultaneously from the scission of strained Si-O-Si bond by electronic excitation effects in heavy ion irradiated silica glass. The PL measurement shows three emissions peaked at about 4.28 eV (α band), 3.2 eV (β band) and 2.67 eV (γ band) when excited at 5 eV. The intensities of α and γ bands increase with the increase of fluence and tend to saturation at high fluence. The intensity of β band is at its maximum in virgin silica glass and it is reduced on increasing the ions fluence. It is further confirmed that nuclear energy loss processes determine the production of α and γ bands and electronic energy loss processes determine the bleaching of β band in heavy ion irradiated silica glass.     

Swift heavy ion induced phase transition in CdTe films deposited by spray pyrolysis in presence of electric field

CdTe polycrystalline thin films possessing hexagonal phase regions are obtained by spray deposition in presence of a high electric field. Thin film samples are irradiated with 100 MeV Ag ions using Pelletron accelerator to study the swift heavy ion induced effects. The ion irradiation results in the transformation of the metastable hexagonal regions in the films to stable cubic phase due to the dense electronic excitations induced by beam irradiation. The phase transformation is seen from the X-ray diffraction patterns. The band gap of the CdTe film changes marginally due to ion irradiation induced phase transformation. The value changes from 1.47 eV for the as deposited sample to 1.44 eV for the sample irradiated at the fluence 1×10¹³ ions/cm². The AFM images show a gradual change in the shape of the particles from rod shape to nearly spherical ones after irradiation.     

Damage accumulation in gallium nitride irradiated with various energetic heavy ions

In this work a study of damage production in gallium nitride via elastic collision process (nuclear energy deposition) and inelastic collision process (electronic energy deposition) using various heavy ions is presented. Ordinary low-energy heavy ions (Fe⁺ and Mo⁺ ions of 110 keV), swift heavy ions (²⁰⁸Pb²⁷⁺ ions of 1.1 MeV/u) and slow highly-charged heavy ions (Xeⁿ⁺ ions of 180 keV) were employed in the irradiation. Damage accumulation in the GaN crystal films as a function of ion fluence and temperature was studied with RBS-channeling technique, Raman scattering technique, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM).For ordinary low-energy heavy ion irradiation, the temperature dependence of damage production is moderate up to about 413 K resulting in amorphization of the damaged layer. Enhanced dynamic annealing of defects dominates at higher temperatures. Correlation of amorphization with material decomposition and nitrogen bubble formation was found. In the irradiation of swift heavy ions, rapid damage accumulation and efficient erosion of the irradiated layer occur at a rather low value of electronic energy deposition (about 1.3 keV/nm³), which also varies with irradiation temperature. In the irradiation of slow highly-charged heavy ions (SHCI), enhanced amorphization and surface erosion due to potential energy deposition of SHCI was found. It is indicated that damage production in GaN is remarkably more sensitive to electronic energy loss via excitation and ionization than to nuclear energy loss via elastic collisions.     

Electronic stopping dependence of ion beam induced modifications in GaN

We report here Swift heavy ion induced effects in GaN samples grown by metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) technique. These samples were irradiated with 80 MeV Ni and 100 MeV Ag ions at a fixed fluence of 1 × 10¹³ ions/cm². Ion species and energies are chosen such that the difference in their electronic energy loss (S_e) would be 8 keV/nm. Effects of Ag on structural and optical properties over Ni ions have been discussed extensively. We employed different characterization techniques like High Resolution X-ray Diffraction (HRXRD) and Raman Spectroscopy for defect density calculations and for vibrational modes, respectively. Defect densities are calculated and compared using Williamson-Hall method from HRXRD. Change of strain and vibrational modes with S_e has been discussed.     

Effect of swift heavy ion irradiation on nanocrystalline CaS:Bi phosphors: Structural, optical and luminescence studies

Luminescence studies of CaS:Bi nanocrystalline phosphors synthesized by wet chemical co-precipitation method and irradiated with swift heavy ions (i.e. O⁷⁺-ion with 100 MeV and Ag¹⁵⁺-ion with 200 MeV) have been carried out. The samples have been irradiated at different ion fluences in the range 1 × 10¹²-1 × 10¹³ ions/cm². The average grain size of the samples before irradiation was estimated as 35 nm using line broadening of XRD (X-ray diffraction) peaks and TEM (transmission electron microscope) studies. Our results suggest a good structural stability of CaS:Bi against swift heavy ion irradiation. The blue emission band of CaS:Bi³⁺ nanophosphor at 401 nm is from the transition ³P₁ → ¹S₀ of the Bi³⁺. We have observed a decrease in lattice constant (a) and increase of optical energy band gap after ion irradiation. We presume this change due to grain fragmentation by dense electronic excitation induced by swift heavy ion. We have studied the optical and luminescent behavior of the samples by changing the ion energy and also by changing dopant concentration from 0.01 mol% to 0.10 mol%. It has been examined that ion irradiation enhanced the luminescence of the samples.     

Swift heavy ion induced modifications of fullerene C70 thin films

Modifications of the C₇₀ molecule (fullerene) under swift heavy ion irradiation are investigated. C₇₀ thin films were irradiated with 120 MeV Au ions at fluences from 1 × 10¹² to 3 × 10¹³ ions/cm². The energetic ion impacts lead to the destruction of the C₇₀ molecule. To investigate the stability of C₇₀ fullerene, the damage cross-section and radius of the damaged cylindrical zones are evaluated by fitting the evanescence of C₇₀ vibration modes recorded by Raman spectroscopy. Conductivity measurements together with Raman and optical absorption studies revealed that an irradiation fluence of 3 × 10¹³ ions/cm² results in complete amorphization of the carbon structure of the fullerene molecules.     

Complete phase transformation in zirconia induced by very high electronic excitations

It is now well established that the irradiation of pure zirconia (ZrO₂) with swift heavy ions can lead to a transformation from the monoclinic to the tetragonal phase when the deposited electronic energy loss exceeds an effective threshold ∼12 keV nm⁻¹. Previous swift heavy ion irradiations carried out with electronic energy losses less than ∼30 keV nm⁻¹ evidenced that this phase transition is characterized by two constant features: (i) it is driven by a double ion impact process, and (ii) it is never complete even at extremely high fluences. It is then quite interesting to check whether this phase transformation does not depart from this behaviour at very high electronic energy losses. For this purpose, zirconia was irradiated with 0.6-GeV Pb ions giving rise to an electronic energy loss ∼42 keV nm⁻¹ at the sample surface. Despite this huge value, the experimental data revealed that the phase change is here again still characterized by a double ion impact process. However, contrary to previous cases, it was found that this phase transformation not only occurs very rapidly but achieves full completion at rather low fluences.     

Effect of swift heavy ion irradiation on hydrothermally synthesized hydroxyapatite ceramics

The effect of swift heavy ion irradiation on hydroxyapatite (HAp) ceramic - a bone mineral was investigated. The irradiation experiment was conducted using oxygen ions at energy of 100 MeV with three different fluences of 10¹², 10¹³, 10¹⁴ ions/cm². The irradiated samples were characterized by glancing angle X-ray diffraction (GXRD), atomic force microscopy (AFM), dynamic light scattering (DLS), photoluminescence spectroscopy (PL), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDAX). GXRD confirmed incomplete amorphisation of HAp with increase in fluence. There was considerable reduction in particle size on irradiation leading to nanosized HAp (upto 53 nm). PL studies showed emission in the visible wavelength region. The irradiated samples exhibited better bioactivity than the pristine HAp.     

Mechanical properties of cubic zirconia irradiated with swift heavy ions

The modifications of the mechanical properties of cubic (yttria-stabilized) zirconia induced by swift heavy ion irradiation are investigated. Polycrystalline pellets were irradiated at room temperature with 940 MeV Pb ions at the GANIL accelerator in Caen at fluences ranging from 5 × 10¹¹ to 4 × 10¹³ cm⁻². The microhardness and the fracture toughness of irradiated YSZ were studied by Vickers micro-indentation. Although YSZ is damaged by irradiation, an increase of the microhardness and fracture toughness with increasing ion fluence is observed. A strengthening of YSZ, associated with residual compressive stresses induced in the surface layer by irradiation, explain these results.     

Electronic excitations induced modifications of structural and optical properties of ZnO-porous silicon nanocomposites

The influence of swift heavy ion (SHI) irradiation on structural and photoluminescence (PL) properties of ZnO nanocrystallites deposited into porous silicon (PS) templates by the sol-gel process was studied. The ZnO/PS nanocomposites were irradiated using 120 MeV Au ions at different fluences varying from 1 × 10¹² to 1 × 10¹³ ions/cm². The intensity of the X-ray diffraction peaks is suppressed at the high fluence, without evolution of any new peak. The PL emission from PS around 700 nm is found to decrease with increase in ion fluence, while the PL emission from deep level defects of ZnO nanocrystallites is increased with ion fluence. At the highest fluence, the observation of drastic increase in PL emission due to donor/acceptor defects in the region 400-600 nm and suppressions of XRD peaks could be attributed to the defects induced structural modifications of ZnO nanocrystallites.     

Barrier modification of Au/n-GaAs Schottky diode by swift heavy ion irradiation

The effect of swift heavy ion (72.5 MeV ⁵⁸Ni⁶⁺) irradiation on Au/n-GaAs Schottky barrier characteristics is studied using in situ current-voltage measurements. Diode parameters are found to vary as a function of ion irradiation fluence. The Schottky barrier height (SBH) is found to be 0.55(±0.01) eV for the as deposited diode, which decreases with ion irradiation fluence. The SBH decreases to a value of 0.49(±0.01) eV at the highest ion irradiation fluence of 5 × 10¹³ ions cm⁻². The ideality factor is found to be 2.48 for unirradiated diode, and it increases with irradiation to a value of 4.63 at the highest fluence. The modification in Schottky barrier characteristics is discussed considering the energy loss mechanism of swift heavy ion at the metal-semiconductor interface.     

AFM and photoluminescence studies of swift heavy ion induced nanostructured aluminum oxide thin films

E-beam evaporated aluminum oxide films were irradiated with 120 MeV swift Au⁹⁺ ions in order to induced nanostructure formation. Atomic force microscope (AFM) results showed the formation of nanostructures for films irradiated with a fluence of 1 × 10¹³ ions cm⁻². The particle size estimated by section analysis of the irradiated film was in the range 25-30 nm. Glancing angle X-ray diffraction (GAXRD) revealed the amorphous nature of the films. Two strong Photoluminescence (PL) emission bands with peaks at ∼430 nm and ∼645 nm besides a shoulder at ∼540 nm were observed in all irradiated samples. The PL intensity is found to increase with increase of ion fluence.     

Swift heavy ion irradiation induced modification of the microstructure of NiO thin films

NiO nanoparticle films (200 nm thick) grown on Si substrates by pulsed laser deposition method were irradiated by 200 MeV Ag¹⁵⁺ ions. The films were characterized by glancing angle X-ray diffraction, atomic force microscopy and optical absorption spectroscopy. Though electronic energy loss of 200 MeV Ag ions in NiO matrix was higher than the threshold electronic energy loss for creation of columnar defects, films remained crystalline with the initial fcc structure even up to a fluence of 5 × 10¹³ ions cm⁻², where ion tracks are expected to overlap. Irradiation however modified the microstructure of the NiO films considerably. The grain size decreased with increasing ion fluence, which led to reduced surface roughness and increased optical band gap due to quantum confinement. These results correlate well with variation of the power spectral density exponent with ion fluence, which indicate that at high ion fluences, the evolution of surface morphology is governed by surface diffusion.     

Raman investigation of incident N-, Xe-ions induced effects in ZnO thin films

Highly c-axis orientation ZnO thin films with hundreds nanometers in thickness have been deposited on (1 0 0) Si substrate by RF magnetron sputtering. These films are implanted at room temperature by 80 keV N-ions with fluences from 5.0 × 10¹⁴ to 1.0 × 10¹⁷ ions/cm², implanted by 400 keV Xe-ions with 2.0 × 10¹⁴ to 2.0 × 10¹⁶ ions/cm², irradiated by 3.64 MeV Xe-ions with 1.0 × 10¹² to 1.0 × 10¹⁵ ions/cm², or irradiated by 308 MeV Xe-ions with 1.0 × 10¹² to 5.0 × 10¹⁴ ions/cm², respectively. Then the ZnO films are investigated using a Raman spectroscopy. The obtained Raman spectra show that a new Raman peak located at about 578 cm⁻¹ relating to simple defects or disorder phase appears in all ZnO films after ion implantation/irradiation, a new Raman peak at about 275 cm^-1 owing to N-activated zinc-like vibrations is observed in the N-implanted samples. Moreover, a new Raman peak at about 475 cm⁻¹ is only seen in the samples after 400 keV and 3.64 MeV Xe-ions bombardment. The area intensity of these peaks increases with increasing ion fluence. The effects of ion fluence, element chemical activity, atom displacements induced by nuclear collisions as well as energy deposition on the damage process of ZnO films under ion implantation/irradiation are discussed briefly.     

Study on the behavior of oxygen atoms in swift heavy ion irradiated CeO2 by means of synchrotron radiation X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy

To study the effects of swift heavy ion irradiation on cerium dioxide (CeO₂), CeO₂ sintered pellets were irradiated with 200 MeV Xe ions at room temperature. For irradiated and unirradiated samples, the spectra of X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) were measured. XPS spectra for the irradiated samples show that the valence state of Ce atoms partly changes from +4 to +3. The amount of Ce³⁺ state was quantitatively obtained as a function of ion-fluence. The relative amount of oxygen atom displacements, which are accompanied by the decrease in Ce valence state, is 3-5%. This value is too large to be explained in terms of elastic interactions between CeO₂ and 200 MeV ions. The experimental result suggests the contribution of 200 MeV Xe induced electronic excitation to the displacements of oxygen atoms.     

Behavior of crystalline silicon under huge electronic excitations: A transient thermal spike description

Recent experimental works devoted to the phenomena of mixing observed at metallic multilayers Ni/Si irradiated by swift heavy ions irradiations make it necessary to revisit the insensibility of crystalline Si under huge electronic excitations. Knowing that Ni is an insensitive material, such observed mixing would exist only if Si is a sensitive material. In order to extend the study of swift heavy ion effects to semiconductor materials, the experimental results obtained in bulk silicon have been analyzed within the framework of the inelastic thermal spike model. Provided the quenching of a boiling (or vapor) phase is taken as the criterion of amorphization, the calculations with an electron-phonon coupling constant g(300 K) = 1.8 × 10¹² W/cm³/K and an electronic diffusivity D_e(300 K) = 80 cm²/s nicely reproduce the size of observed amorphous tracks as well as the electronic energy loss threshold value for their creation, assuming that they result from the quenching of the appearance of a boiling phase along the ion path. Using these parameters for Si in the case of a Ni/Si multilayer, the mixing observed experimentally can be well simulated by the inelastic thermal spike model extended to multilayers, assuming that this occurs in the molten phase created at the Ni interface by energy transfer from Si.     

Gold nanoparticles resist deformation by swift heavy ion irradiation when embedded in a crystalline matrix

We have attempted to deform, by swift heavy ion irradiation, gold nanoparticles embedded in crystalline AlAs which resists amorphization. AlAs was first implanted with 1.3 MeV Au ions at room temperature to a fluence of 2 × 10¹⁶ cm⁻². Rapid thermal annealing (RTA) at 600 °C for 1 or 2 min was used to grow Au nanoparticles in the matrix. Deformation was attempted by 30 MeV Cu⁵⁺ irradiation at liquid nitrogen temperature. Crystal damage of the matrix was studied using Rutherford backscattering spectrometry in channeling configuration and Raman spectrometry. The morphology of Au nanoparticles was investigated by Transmission Electron Microscopy.It was found that, in spite of some crystal damage, the AlAs remained crystalline throughout the experiment and spherical Au nanoparticles with size distribution between 2 and 12 nm were observed with no indication of elongation. Thus, high energy heavy ion irradiation does not deform spherical Au nanoparticles embedded in AlAs. This supports the suggestion that the deformation of the gold nanoparticles which has been observed for particles embedded in amorphous materials is a consequence of the hammering deformation of the matrix surrounding the nanoparticles.     

Structural characterization of swift heavy ion irradiated polycarbonate

Makrofol-N polycarbonate thin films were irradiated with copper (50 MeV) and nickel (86 MeV) ions. The modified films were analyzed by UV-VIS, FTIR and XRD techniques. The experimental data was used to evaluate the formation of chromophore groups (conjugated system of bonds), degradation cross-section of the special functional groups, the alkyne formation and the amorphization cross-section. The investigation of UV-VIS spectra shows that the formation of chromophore groups is reduced at larger wavelength, however its value increases with the increase of ion fluence. Degradation cross-section for the different chemical groups present in the polycarbonate chains was evaluated from the FTIR data. It was found that there was an increase of degradation cross-section of chemical groups with the increase of electronic energy loss in polycarbonate. The alkyne and alkene groups were found to be induced due to swift heavy ion irradiation in polycarbonate. The radii of the alkyne production of about 2.74 and 2.90 nm were deduced for nickel (86 MeV) and copper (50 MeV) ions respectively. XRD analysis shows the decrease of the main XRD peak intensity. Progressive amorphization process of Makrofol-N with increasing fluence was traced by XRD measurements.     

C60薄膜在快重离子辐照下的结构稳定性研究

用傅立叶变换红外光谱、X射线衍射谱、X射线光电子谱和拉曼散射技术分析了能量为GeV量级的S、Fe、Xe、和U离子,以及120keV的H离子在室温下辐照多层堆积C60薄膜的结构稳定性,即快重离子在C60薄膜中由高密度电子激发引起的效应,主要包括C60分子的聚合、分子结构的损伤、新的高温-高压相的形成和晶态向非晶态的转变.     

Photoluminescence and photoluminescence excitation studies in 80 MeV Ni ion irradiated MOCVD grown GaN

We report damage creation and annihilation under energetic ion bombardment at a fixed fluence. MOCVD grown GaN thin films were irradiated with 80 MeV Ni ions at a fluence of 1 × 10¹³ ions/cm². Irradiated GaN thin films were subjected to rapid thermal annealing for 60 s in nitrogen atmosphere to anneal out the defects. The effects of defects on luminescence were explored with photoluminescence measurements. Room temperature photoluminescence spectra from pristine sample revealed presence of band to band transition besides unwanted yellow luminescence. Irradiated GaN does not show any band to band transition but there is a strong peak at 450 nm which is attributed to ion induced defect blue luminescence. However, irradiated and subsequently annealed samples show improved band to band transitions and a significant decrease in yellow luminescence intensity due to annihilation of defects which were created during irradiation. Irradiation induced effects on yellow and blue emissions are discussed.