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

Response of CaF2 thin films to swift heavy ions irradiation is studied with Monte-Carlo code TREKIS and molecular dynamics simulations. Two factors affecting the damage kinetics in ion tracks in films of different thickness are considered: electron emission and an effect of the layer thickness. It is shown that escape of electrons from the target surface is important in films thinner than 15 nm and can significantly reduce energy deposited into the lattice. Three different modes of damage realize depending on the layer thickness: a through hole forms in the thinnest layers despite energy loss via electron emission, semispherical and spherical hillocks form at intermediate thicknesses, emission of nanoclusters occurs from thick layers.

Automated summary

The response of CaF2 thin films to swift heavy ions irradiation was studied using Monte-Carlo code TREKIS and molecular dynamics simulations. Two main factors affecting the damage kinetics in ion tracks of films with different thickness were considered: electron emission and layer thickness. It was found that the damage modes varied depending on the layer thickness, with through holes formation in the thinnest layers, hillock formation in intermediate thicknesses, and nanocluster emission from thick layers.