Monitoring ion track formation using in situ RBS/c and ERDA

TL;DR

This paper explores the use of in situ ion beam analysis techniques, specifically RBS/c and ERDA, to monitor the formation of ion tracks in various materials during heavy ion irradiation.

Contribution

It demonstrates the feasibility of in situ RBS/c and ERDA techniques for real-time monitoring of ion track formation and surface composition changes in different materials.

Findings

In situ RBS/c detects damage build-up in quartz during irradiation.

In situ ERDA monitors surface elemental composition during ion track formation.

Surface stoichiometry remains unchanged in the studied materials.

Abstract

The aim of this work is to investigate feasibility of the ion beam analysis techniques for monitoring swift heavy ion track formation. First, use of the in situ Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy in channeling mode to observe damage build-up in quartz SiO2 after MeV heavy ion irradiation is demonstrated. Second, new results of the in situ grazing incidence time-of-flight elastic recoil detection analysis used for monitoring the surface elemental composition during ion tracks formation in various materials are presented. Ion tracks were found on SrTiO3, quartz SiO2, a-SiO2 and muscovite mica surfaces by atomic force microscopy, but in contrast to our previous studies on GaN and TiO2, surface stoichiometry remained unchanged.