On mechanisms of defect formation in aluminum crystals bombarded by low-energy heavy ions

The mechanisms of formation of vacancies and radiation-induced adsorbed and interstitial atoms in the cascades of atomic collisions induced by 25-, 40-and 50-eV Ar and Xe ions normally incident onto the Al(100) surface at 300 K are discussed within the framework of the molecular dynamics approach. The numbers of bulk and surface vacancies formed in the course of a collision cascade exhibit two maxima in the case of Xe ions and a single maximum in the case of Ar ions.