Open AccessIon irradiation damage in ilmenite under cryogenic conditions
Author(s) -
Jeremy Mitchell,
Ning Yu,
Ram Devanathan,
Kurt E. Sickafus,
Nastasi,
G. L. Nord
Publication year - 1996
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Reports
DOI - 10.2172/392836
Subject(s) - ilmenite , fluence , irradiation , ion , amorphous solid , crystal (programming language) , materials science , transmission electron microscopy , single crystal , radiation damage , analytical chemistry (journal) , surface layer , spinel , crystallography , chemistry , mineralogy , layer (electronics) , physics , nanotechnology , nuclear physics , metallurgy , programming language , organic chemistry , chromatography , computer science
A natural single crystal of ilmenite was irradiated at 100 K with 200 keV Ar{sup 2+}. Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy and ion channeling with 2 MeV He{sup +} ions were used to monitor damage accumulation in the surface region of the implanted crystal. At an irradiation fluence of 1 {times} 10{sup 15} Ar{sup 2+} cm{sup {minus}2}, considerable near-surface He{sup +} ion dechanneling was observed, to the extent that ion yield from a portion of the aligned crystal spectrum reached the yield level of a random spectrum. This observation suggests that the near-surface region of the crystal was amorphized by the implantation. Cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy and electron diffraction on this sample confirmed the presence of a 150 mm thick amorphous layer. These results are compared to similar investigations on geikielite (MgTiO{sub 3}) and spinel (MgAl{sub 2}O{sub 4}) to explore factors that may influence radiation damage response in oxides