Radiation effects in cubic zirconia: A model system for ceramic oxides

Study on damage accumulation in single crystal irradiated with deuterium and helium ions by ion-channeling

“…While the number of disordered atoms gradually increased in the initial stage of irradiation, an abrupt increase in the damage can be seen at around 2 dpa in the cases of both D and He irradiations. A similar stepwise dependence on dpa has been obtained in other ceramic materials, e.g., cubic zirconia, yttria-stabilized cubic zirconia (YSZ), spinel, and uranium oxide irradiated by low-energy ions, in an earlier study [15][16][17]. The study of YSZ irradiated with Xe by RBS/C and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) revealed that the dominant defects in the initial stage are point defects and small defect clusters [17].…”

“…Therefore, the abrupt increase in the disordered atoms can be attributed to the transaction of the dominant defects, which causes the distortion of the string of lattice atoms. Thome et al reported a similar transaction of accumulated damage in cubic zirconia and YSZ during low-energy ion irradiation by RBS/C, TEM, and XRD [16]. Defects in a silicon single crystal implanted with hydrogen and helium ions have been extensively studied; in particular, studies have focused on the blistering phenomenon applied to ion-cutting for siliconon-insulator (SOI) fabrication [20,21].…”

Structural modifications induced by swift heavy ions in thin films of yttria fully stabilized zirconia

“…Still, the phenomenon remains surprising. Despite we still do not have a clear comprehension of FSZ amorphisation and subsequent re-crystallization, we propose that at low, increasing fluence electronic excitation of the matter inside ion tracks causes direct amorphisation [1]. Beyond the threshold fluence (8 Â 10 11 ions cm À2 ) further energisation of the metastable amorphous matter leads to partial recrystallisation to a crystalline phase with a highly symmetric cubic-tetragonal structure suitable to host a huge defect density, mainly oxygen vacancies [4].…”

“…In the past, elastic collision processes were explored in detail, while only a limited number of studies were devoted to the inelastic collision regime. In yttria stabilized zirconia, which is often considered as a model system for ceramic oxides [1], recent investigations concentrated on the damage induced by ion irradiations in the electronic energy loss regime in single crystals of cubic fluorite-type Y 2 O 3 -stabilized ZrO 2 [2,3]. The combined use of different analytical techniques such as Rutherford backscattering spectrometry under channeling (RBS/C), X-ray diffractometry (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and atomic force microscopy (AFM) allowed the following conclusions: at low ion fluences the impact of individual projectiles produce defect tracks (diameter $5 nm for Pb ions [2]) with hillocks at the crystal surface due to ejection of matter.…”

Oxide Ceramics: Structure, Technology, and Applications

“…The radiation stability of cubic zirconia was recently probed by irradiation with ions in the MeV to GeV energy range (Thom é et al , 2009 ). At low energies the ballistic effects dominated, creating lattice damage which peaked around the ion projected range.…”