Internal sinks and the smoothing of the surface structure in solids under irradiation

TL;DR

This paper investigates how irradiation and internal defect sinks affect the rate of surface smoothing in solids, providing a mathematical model and analyzing conditions under which irradiation accelerates or decelerates surface flattening.

Contribution

It introduces a system of equations modeling defect dynamics under irradiation and derives conditions influencing surface flattening rates.

Findings

Irradiation can either increase or decrease surface flattening depending on parameters.

A mathematical framework for defect and surface evolution under irradiation is developed.

Stationary solutions of the defect system are obtained and analyzed.

Abstract

We consider in the article the influence of the irradiation and the internal sinks of the point defects on the rate of the flattening of the surface structure in solids. The irradiation produces only the additional external sources of point defects(vacancies and interstitial atoms). The general system of equations is formulated. The solution of the system on the stationary stage of the process is found. It is shown that depending on the values of some parameters of the solid the irradiation can increase or decrease the rate of the surface flattening.