The influence of channelling on radiation damage produced in silicon during ion bombardment

The ion bombardment of silicon results in the formation of an amorphous phase in the vicinity of the bombarded regions. This gives rise to a milky appearance which is easily distinguishable from an adjacent unbombarded region. An experiment is described which was specifically designed to study the influence of channelling of incident 80 keV Ne⁺ ions on the formation of this amorphous phase. It is found that channelling significantly reduces the rate at which this phase is produced, and in the particular case of the 110 axial channel this corresponds to a reduction in radiation damage by a factor of about 8. The results are compared with the current theories of channelling and are found to be in reasonable quantitative agreement.