Modification of semiconductor or metal nanoparticle lattices in amorphous alumina by MeV heavy ions

Abstract

In the present work we investigate effects of MeV heavy ions (from 0.4 MeV Xe to 15 MeV Si) on regularly ordered nanoparticle (NP) lattices embedded in amorphous alumina matrix. These nanostructures were produced by self-assembling growth using magnetron-sputtering deposition. From grazing incidence small-angle x-ray scattering measurements we have found that the used MeV heavy ions do not change the NP sizes, shapes or distances among them. However, ions cause a tilt of the entire NP lattice in the direction parallel to the surface. The tilt angle depends on the incident ion energy, type and the applied fluence and a nearly linear increase of the tilt angle with the ion fluence and irradiation angle was found. This way, MeV heavy ion irradiation can be used to design custom-made NP lattices. In addition, grazing incidence small-angle x-ray scattering can be effectively used as a method for the determination of material redistribution/shift caused by the ion hammering effect. For the first time, the deformation yield in amorphous alumina was determined for irradiation performed at the room temperature.

Shape Deformation in Ion Beam Irradiated Colloidal Monolayers: An AFM Investigation

“…However, for the irradiation conditions of that work (gold ion beams in the energy range 2-10 MeV), electronic and nuclear stopping are of comparable values. Therefore, the estimated threshold for ion hammering in polystyrene at 1.25 keV nm contains both nuclear and electronic stopping contributions that have different efficiencies in materials modification [41][42][43]. Other studies on polymers have been carried out at even higher energies, but on polymer films [44].…”

On the threshold for ion track formation in CaF2

“…The density of deposited energy, usually expressed in terms of the SHI's electronic stopping power (keV nm -1 ), is often quite sufficient to produce permanent damage along the ion trajectory (i.e. ion track) or activate various thermally driven processes enabling patterning or synthesis of nano-structured materials [4,[7][8][9][10].…”

GisaxStudio—An Open Platform for Analysis and Simulation of GISAXS from 3D Nanoparticle Lattices

“…The software includes theoretical models published in [20][21][22], which take into account the NP ordering properties along each of the basis vectors of the 3D NP lattice. The models and the software are already successfully applied in the GISAXS analysis of many systems, including 3D NP lattices [5,[7][8][9]11,13,20,21,[32][33][34][35][36] and NPs formed within ion tracks [22,[37][38][39], where fitting of the full 2D measured map was performed. We show how the platform is constructed, reveal its main features, and demonstrate its performance.…”