Cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy study of 1.5 MeV Kr+ irradiation-induced amorphization in α-quartz

Abstract

Cross-sectional and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (XTEM and HRTEM, respectively) have been used to characterize ion-beam-induced amorphization of α-quartz irradiated with 1.5 MeV Kr+ ions at room temperature. The accumulation of damage and the growth of the amorphous layers in quartz were studied as a function of ion fluence up to 1.7×1014 ions/cm2. An amorphous band was first observed at the peak displacement damage range, and this region increased in width with increasing ion fluence. These results demonstrate that direct displacement damage by nuclear collision is more efficient than ionization processes in inducing amorphization in quartz. At lower fluences (⩽1.7×1013 ions/cm2), the damage profile observed by XTEM is in excellent agreement with the distribution of displacement damage predicted by TRIM calculations. At higher fluences, the range of the amorphous band measured by XTEM exceeds the depth predicted by TRIM.