Damage kinetics induced by swift heavy ion impacts onto films of different thicknesses

Energy Retention in Thin Graphite Targets after Energetic Ion Impact

“…Presented results show that the significant fraction of energy deposited into thin target by the impact of the energetic ion can be carried away by the emitted electrons. This is critically important in materials modification of the 2D materials such as graphene [ 21 ], but it can also have significant influence on energy deposition on surfaces [ 12 ] and within thin targets [ 18 ]. Actually, this feature can affect radiation hardness of not only thin targets, but also other nanomaterials such as nanoparticles and nanowires.…”

“…Effects of the high energy ion irradiation on very thin targets and 2D materials such as graphene are in the focus of research [ 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 ]. Material removal from later stages of the ion track formation in thin targets can lead to diverse ion track morphologies [ 18 , 19 , 20 ].…”

“…Effects of the high energy ion irradiation on very thin targets and 2D materials such as graphene are in the focus of research [ 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 ]. Material removal from later stages of the ion track formation in thin targets can lead to diverse ion track morphologies [ 18 , 19 , 20 ]. However, even more importantly, escape of the deposited energy into the vacuum via electron emission should substantially affect ion track formation in thin targets and 2D materials [ 18 , 21 ].…”

“…Material removal from later stages of the ion track formation in thin targets can lead to diverse ion track morphologies [ 18 , 19 , 20 ]. However, even more importantly, escape of the deposited energy into the vacuum via electron emission should substantially affect ion track formation in thin targets and 2D materials [ 18 , 21 ]. For example, in the case of 1 MeV/n silicon and xenon ions, graphene should retain only 50% and 60% of deposited energy, respectively [ 21 ].…”

“…Using the Geant4 code, we have explored a wide range of ion types (from carbon up to xenon) and ion energies (0.1–10 MeV/n) interacting with graphite targets of different thicknesses (1–100 nm). More accurate results could be obtained with custom made [ 18 ] and much more computationally intensive codes [ 21 ]. In the case of graphene targets, one should also consider the atomic position where the ion impact occurs [ 21 ].…”