Amorphization of sapphire induced by swift heavy ions: A two step process

A. Kabir (1) , A. Meftah (1) , J.P. Stoquert (2) , Marcel Toulemonde (3) , Isabelle Monnet (3)

1 LRPCSI - Laboratoire de Recherches sur la Physico-Chimie des Surfaces et Interfaces
2 InESS - Institut d'Electronique du Solide et des Systèmes
3 CIMAP - UMR 6252 - Centre de recherche sur les Ions, les MAtériaux et la Photonique

Single crystals of α-Al2O3 were irradiated with 0.7 MeV/amu Xe ions at the GANIL accelerator with fluences extending from 5 x 1011 to 2 x 1014 ions/cm2. The samples were characterized by Rutherford Backscattering Spectrometry in Channelling geometry (RBS-C) and surface profilometry for swelling measurements. RBS-C analysis evidence the presence of two incident ion effects on sapphire targets: the creation of partial disorder that saturates at ~40% with a damage cross section of 7 x 10_14 cm2, followed by a complete disorder starting from the surface and appearing at fluence larger than ~1.2 x 1013 ions/cm2. A correlation between relative disorder and swelling is observed. This study is in agreement with the appearance of amorphization of α-Al2O3 at high fluence as observed by Aruga et al. [T. Aruga, Y. Katano, T. Ohmichi, S. Okayasu, Y. Kazumata, Nucl. Instr. Meth. Phys. Res. B 166–167 (2000) 913–919].

Keywords: Alumina; Swift heavy ion irradiation; Electronic stopping power; Defects creation; Amorphization; RBS-C; Swelling

Domains: Materials Science [cond-mat.mtrl-sci]

A. Kabir, A. Meftah, J.P. Stoquert, Marcel Toulemonde, Isabelle Monnet. Amorphization of sapphire induced by swift heavy ions: A two step process. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section B: Beam Interactions with Materials and Atoms, 2008, 266, pp.2976-2980. ⟨cea-00306165⟩