Precursory stage of damage production in argon irradiated cubic zirconia


Precursory stage of damage production in argon irradiated cubic zirconia

Fradin, J.; Thome, T.; Grynszpan, R. I.; Thome, L.; Anwand, W.; Brauer, G.

The damage accumulation in stabilized cubic ZrO2 single crystals irradiated with low-energy Ar ions was investigated,
combining Rutherford backscattering/channeling (RBS/C) and slow positron implantation (SPIS) spectroscopies. In the 3×1014¯1016 cm-2 range, the fluence dependence of the damage-induced dechanneling parameter (fD) exhibits three production stages (labeled 1, 2 and 3) already reported for ion-irradiated ceramics and attributed to the formation of small clusters and dislocation loops, either isolated or overlapping. Moreover, a precursory stage, never hitherto reported in RBS/C studies, is unveiled for fluences below 3×1014 cm-2. This "new" stage (labeled 0) is confirmed by SPIS and attributed to clustering of small vacancy-type defects. Although both techniques exhibit different specific sensitivities to defects, similarities in the fluence dependence allow to identify common limits to all observed damage production stages.

Keywords: Ion-irradiation; Zirconia; Radiation effects; RBS; Channeling; Positrons

  • Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B 175-177 (2001) 516

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Publ.-Id: 4789