Ion-solid interaction: status and perspectives

Abstract

The past half century has seen an explosive growth of the discipline that is characterized by the deposition of localized high energy densities in solid matter, by means of energetic ions produced e.g. in particle accelerators. First the fundamentals of Ion-Solid Interaction are outlined. A brief overview is given about the basic energy transfer mechanisms and the consequences of ion impact into solids, such as scattering, sputtering and radiation damage. The latter gives rise to numerous changes in the material's physical and chemical properties, part of which has proven to be detrimental, and part of which is beneficial for technological applications. Though meanwhile a good general understanding of this discipline has been obtained, there are still plenty of lacks of details in our knowledge. Some representative examples are given. As a conclusion of all these points, one may say that, in spite of its age, Ion-Solid Interaction is still a challenging scientifical field, and it still offers lots of promising applications.

Range and etching behaviour of swift heavy ions in polymers

“…Once an energetic particle beam hits matter, it transfers energy to the latter. In contrast to the interaction of energetic electrons or photons with matter, the main peculiarity of energetic ion impact is the extremely high localized density of the energy transferred to the target by the particles [1][2][3]. The evaluation of range and energy loss of swift heavy ions in solids continues to evoke considerable research interests because of their vital importance in many scientific disciplines [4][5][6][7][8].…”

Study of swift heavy ion irradiation effect on indium tin oxide coated electrode for the dye-sensitized solar cell application

“…Ion implantation technique [7] is used for electrical and optical doping of semiconductors as well as for the synthesis of the buried compound layers. However, energetic ion beam offers much broader range of possibilities compared to the ion implantation, to modify the structure and properties of material [8], caused by the very high local energy density deposited into the solid along the ion path. In fact, the energy loss of SHI may be up to some tens of keV/nm, which result in a very short (some hundred of picoseconds), very local (a cylinder of approximately 10 nm in diameter) and very high (some 0.1 eV/ atom), excitation of solid [9].…”

Study of ferrofluids in confined geometry

“…Ion irradiation of a given insulator does not lead to any significant change in its electrical conductivity. Since, tracks in some materials can be chemically revealed, the initial damages are also referred to as latent tracks [1]. Both the diameter and track length depend upon the type and energy of the beam as well as on the thermal and electrical conductivity of the material.…”