Dechanneling measurements of defect depth profiles and effective cross-channel distribution of misaligned atoms in ion irradiated gold

Defect depth profiles for self ion and He+ irradiated gold are obtained from single and multiple scatter dechanneling analysis in single crystal gold films. Quantitative defect densities are obtained through use of atomic scattering cross sections. Integral damage profiles are extracted from the dechanneling spectra and subsequently differentiated to yield the volume concentration of defects as a function of depth. Results from the self ion irradiations suggest that incident ions produce defect distributions across depths much greater than predicted by random stopping theory. This is in agreement with TEM observations of others. Comparison of the experimental profiles is made with theoretical vacancy distributions predicted by defect diffusion in a radiation environment. Similarities are observed for the low fluence irradiations suggesting that profile characteristics may be controlled by rapid migration and loss of interstitials to the film surfaces during irradiation. Information on the across-channel distribution of misaligned atoms in the damaged films is obtained with the steady increase of transverse energy model applied to the dechanneling spectra. A predominance of slight misalignment is observed with no contribution to dechanneling coming from atoms displaced significantly close to the center of the channels. This is in keeping with what is expected for crystal distortions caused by the strain fields associated with vacancy cluster defects